Europe

The first quarter results for UBS’s investment bank looked much like a repeat of rival Credit Suisse’s earnings last week, with strong underlying performance marred by a loss stemming from former prime brokerage client Archegos Capital.

HSBC is mulling bolt-on acquisitions in wealth management, primarily in Asia, after capital was freed up by a favourable reassessment of credit losses stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Swedish property website Hemnet has succeeded in a difficult IPO market, its shares rising 50% on its first day of trading in Stockholm.

Italy sold new three and 30 year dollar bonds through syndication on Tuesday as it continues to build out a curve in the currency.

There is a golden opportunity for banks to set a precedent by issuing sustainability-linked bonds across the capital stack, rather than waiting for regulators to finish fretting over the guidance.

The UK Debt Management Office raised £6bn with its first syndication of the financial year. Although one investor said the spread was more generous than he expected, the trade drew praise for the smoothness of its execution.

A wave of Russian equity capital markets activity has broken this week, taking advantage of a rise in optimism that geopolitical tensions between Russia and the US are decreasing.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) issued its second ultra-long dated Pfandbrief of the year on Tuesday, flat to the curve and into good demand at the tightest spread for this tenor and longer in the past 18 years.

Investors wasted little time placing orders for Nationwide Building Society’s 20 year covered bond on Tuesday, reflecting the rare and chunky yield on offer and the expectation that this could potentially be their only chance to buy UK covered bonds in euros this year.

Solidium, the organisation that manages the investments of the Finnish government, has reduced its stake in SSAB after the steel maker reported a strong set of first quarter earnings.

Equity investors showed they were stepping up in numbers to invest in primary growth capital raises across Europe after Elkem, the Norwegian silicone manufacturer, raised $228m-equivalent and Greek bank Piraeus completed a €1.38bn raise to help clean up its non-performing loan book.

TechnipFMC has completed the first placing of Technip Energies stock since its spinoff on the Paris bourse in February, boosting the freefloat of the company.