Europe

Two SSA issuers were expected to follow Tuesday’s outing in euros from the EU, but only one elected to brave the market on Wednesday.

The SSA sterling market has enjoyed its busiest week for two months, with three borrowers coming to market. More could be set to follow if conditions remain tranquil.

French technology manufacturer Mersen has sold US private placements, according to market sources. Investors are expecting more European corporates to tap the market in the coming months.

National Bank Trust, the bad bank set up by the Russian government after the financial crisis, has raised Rb50.2bn ($681m) by selling shares in VTB Bank, one of Russia’s largest banking groups.

Tuesday’s deals from UOB and Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark provided a wake-up call to the covered bond market that showed, no matter how strong the technical factors keeping pricing tight, it is not insulated from the rates market. A readjustment at the ultra-long end of the curve was overdue, said bankers, and they expect issuers to print shorter deals from now on.

Suse, the German software company, was trading just above its IPO price on its first day of trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange, a success for the company given the volatility in European equity markets.

Arçelik, the Turkish household appliance manufacturer that owns Beko and Grundig, is set to make its mark in the green bond market. The deal, some say, will be a test of investor appetite for Turkish corporate paper, which so far has been strong, despite the heightened volatility affecting the country in the first four months of the year.

The European Central Bank issued several warnings about the banking sector in its Financial Stability Review (FSR) this week, as it drew attention to corporate zombification, a new capital markets exodus and an undesirable tightening in lending standards.

Nerio Alessandri, the Italian billionaire founder and CEO of Technogym, has reduced his stake in the high-end gym equipment manufacturer via an accelerated bookbuild.

Severn Trent, the UK water company, is raising £250m of equity capital to fund green projects. Banks working on the deal quickly attracted enough demand to cover the transaction.

Momentum is picking up among Russian borrowers seeking to raise green or ESG-linked loans. Sibur, the petrochemical company, is the latest borrower to enter the market, which bankers say is attracting companies from all over the spectrum.

CDP Financial, one of Canada's largest public pension asset managers, joined three other public sector borrowers in the dollar market on Tuesday to sell its debut green bond.