Europe

Ares Management has raised a colossal €11bn for its new European direct lending fund, but firms whose investments hit the skids through the pandemic may not find it quite so easy.

Bank of America has hired a managing director from Goldman Sachs to help lead a new team in its UK investment banking division that aims to increase the bank’s coverage of private and emerging growth companies.

The Pfandbrief market is in the middle of a tumultuous year which includes not only the adoption of the EU's Covered Bond Directive but also digesting the bloc's Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities. Of course, this is all happening against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns, which have hit the commercial real estate market that underpins much of the product. Jens Tolckmitt, chief executive of the Association of German Pfandbriefbanks (vdp), spoke to GlobalCapital about how the market has coped.

Greece was the only public sector borrower to announce a new benchmark transaction on Tuesday, picking banks to lead a new five year syndicated deal.

DNB Boligkreditt took advantage of strong market conditions to mandate leads for its second covered bond of the year on Tuesday.

Danish software company Trifork has announced its intention to float on Nasdaq Copenhagen, having attracted large commitments for stock from cornerstone investors.

Bawag became the first Austrian issuer to price a covered bond through mid-swaps since June 2018 on Tuesday when it issued a benchmark 10 year that attracted strong initial order momentum and an exceptionally granular order book. At the same time Austria’s Covered Bond Act consultation came to an end, suggesting the new legal framework will soon be enacted.

LimakPort, a Turkish port operator, said on Tuesday it will look to come to the dollar market for a 15 year amortising bond with a coupon that steps up if the issuer fails to meet sustainability targets.

Zuercher Kantonalbank is getting ready to become the first local Swiss bank to issue senior paper in euros, ahead of an important period in its funding schedule.

Swiss-Austrian company Montana Aerospace made a flying start to its IPO on Tuesday, attracting enough investors to cover the transaction in the first few hours of book building.

Deutsche Bank is planning to issue a new additional tier one (AT1) in euros, as it looks to offset the impact of “certain regulatory changes” and work towards meeting its leverage ratio target.

Erste Group Bank is lining up its first sustainability bond, as it looks to take advantage of a quiet period for new issuance and a recent back-up in rates.