Europe

The equity market — and beyond — has been puzzling over how Deliveroo, one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year, could have suffered so badly in trading on its first day on Wednesday. Some blamed ESG concerns about the working conditions of the firm's delivery riders, others the dual class-share structure but the simplest explanation was that Deliveroo came at the wrong end of an IPO market that was losing steam.

French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that stringent lockdown measures imposed in some areas will be extended nationally for a month. Though the measures will cost France €11bn, it is unlikely to provoke a serious response in France’s bond market.

Alychlo, the family investment company of Belgian billionaire Marc Coucke, has reduced its stake in Mithra Pharmaceuticals through a €40m accelerated bookbuild on Wednesday evening.

The Danish cooperative farming company has sold €125m of Schuldschein, the largest placement in its three visits to the market.

Loans still under moratoria may be at a particularly high risk of impairment, according to fresh data from the European Banking Authority this week. The figures also revealed signs of a more general deterioration in asset quality within the EU.

A study of 657,000 UK mortgages undertaken by Nationwide Building Society over the past year suggests that the greener building a mortgage is secured on, the lower the risk of default. Moreover, this relationship is not affected by a borrower’s wealth, the location, or the type of property.

Sales of ESG-labelled debt have skyrocketed in the FIG market over the first quarter of 2021, with issuers already halfway through last year’s total volumes. Deal arrangers are confident that supply will be able to keep pace, as banks find room to expand into a burgeoning social bond market, write Tyler Davies and Bill Thornhill.

Institutional private credit is emerging as a competitive substitute for bank lending in Europe, but companies need to remember that alternative lenders define what they are looking for more narrowly than banks.

Swiss technology firm Comet served up a niche sub-investment grade bond to high net worth investors this week, issuing a 1.3% Sfr60m ($64m) five year.

The European Union’s planned €750bn coronavirus recovery fund is facing a lengthy delay to its inception, and possible derailment, after Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court issued an injunction to block its ratification by the Bundestag, writes Burhan Khadbai.

The European Investment Bank and Dexia Credit Local were the only two public sector borrowers to sell deals in the primary market this week as issuance wound down ahead of the Easter break.

Deutsche Bank conquered the fallout from the liquidation of US hedge fund Archegos Capital this week to print its first preferred senior trade of the year.