Europe

Two of the largest private placement investors have beaten the broader market to a deal with Biffa, the UK waste management company, after many investors expected the transaction to be widely marketed. More frequently, larger investors are going direct to borrowers with bilateral and club deals, undercutting the syndicated market.

A year and a half after Brexit, investment banks are still grappling with evolving requirements to run capital markets deals for EU clients from within the bloc, with consequences for the job market there and in London.

Greece and NRW.Bank added to the week’s primary euro public sector supply on Wednesday ahead of a closely watched European Central Bank governing council meeting on Thursday.

Bond market participants will be on tenterhooks for the European Central Bank’s latest monetary policy decision on Thursday. The rapidity of the European recovery, and the apparent return of inflation have stoked fears that the ECB would begin to discuss tapering its asset purchase programmes.

Autogrill, the Italian food and beverage retailer, has launched a €600m rights issue to position its balance sheet for the re-opening of the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Edenred, the French provider of pre-paid corporate vouchers, is the latest European company to sell a sustainability-linked convertible bond, replicating a structure that has become popular in the regular bond market.

Commodities broker Marex is the latest casualty of Europe’s IPO market, with sources close to its IPO confirming the offer was pulled after failing to attract enough demand to cover the deal.

Russian potash fertiliser producer Uralkali has entered the syndicated loan market to raise a pre-export finance facility, according to loan bankers. The facility garnered a strong response from lenders, as they hunt for assets in a bare pipeline.

Natixis had not expected Brexit to happen, but after the vote, it pushed ahead anyway with plans to relocate staff to London. After four years and one strategic review, the French bank is now in the midst of moving staff back to mainland Europe.

Aedifica, the Belgian real estate investment trust focused on healthcare properties, is financing its forward pipeline of investment opportunities with a €300m sale of new shares.

The European Central Bank bought fewer covered bonds in May than it did in any month this year so far but its portfolio still grow and may do so by even more in June. With supply still likely to be limited, this should keep prospective spread widening contained ahead of a supply glut in the sovereign, supranational and agency sector.

Moody’s has torn up one of the shibboleths of the Schuldschein market — that its borrowers are worthy of investment grade ratings. On Wednesday, the rating agency said a number of borrowers from the car parts sector were overleveraged and not profitable enough. Investors appear to share these worries, but the Schuldschein market offers them little protection and there is no reliable secondary market for them to sell into.