Europe

A staggering amount of capital has been raised by special purpose acquisition companies this year, but there is growing concern that the glut in supply will lead to many of the vehicles overpaying for M&A targets or being unable to find companies to buy.

Finland and Germany have provided an update on their second quarter funding plans, with the former looking to issue its second euro benchmark of the year.

The IPO market looked on in despair on Wednesday as Deliveroo, the UK food delivery company, began trading. The stock fell more than 20% in early trading and shell-shocked bankers fear that IPOs planned for after Easter may have to be put on hold. Sam Kerr reports.

Subordinated debt investors are scrambling to understand what the collapse of US hedge fund Archegos will mean for Credit Suisse. A heavy loss would undermine the bank’s capital cushion, which protects its additional tier one coupons.

An undisclosed seller has offloaded a Sfr90.7m stake in Galenica, the Swiss retail pharmacies company, through an accelerated bookbuild on Tuesday evening.

Nordgold, the Russia-headquartered gold mining company, has become the latest borrower from the country to enter the green financing market after it raised an ESG-linked syndicated loan.

Banks that avoid holding a record of a building’s Energy Performance Certificate in some countries are more likely to meet the standard needed to meet the European Commission’s final draft Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities, delegates at the IMN’s virtual covered bond conference heard on Tuesday.

The fact that a large US insurance company could offer the English Football League better lending terms than UK banks or other investors is revealing. UK lenders are shying away from deals, which has opened the doors to institutional investors. The speed with which a tailor-made EFL deal was done shows how quickly they can replace traditional creditors.

US institutional investor MetLife has offered a more attractive loan package to the English Football League — England's second, third and fourth professional football divisions — than the UK government and bank lenders.

Dexia Credit Local was able to push the pricing of its new dollar benchmark on Tuesday thanks to pent-up demand for high quality paper in the currency.

Fix Price, the Russian discount retailer, became a public company at the beginning of March in a $1.9bn IPO on the London Stock Exchange. Its CFO Anton Makhnev sat down with GlobalCapital to discuss the deal.

The Italian treasury has announced plans to issue a third BTP Futura — a bond format that exclusively targets retail investors — in April, which will come with a 16 year maturity.