Europe

Lakestar Spac I, a new special purpose acquisition company backed by German venture capitalist Klaus Hommels, has priced its IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, raising €275m.

BNP Paribas was nearly seven times subscribed for a long call additional tier one (AT1) this week — in its third dollar deal of the year.

Crédit Agricole has picked banks to run a planned senior preferred Panda bond, its third outing in the format. An investor call has been scheduled for next week.

HSBC chooses chief sustainability officer — JP Morgan creates European unit for Spacs — Piero Novelli to quit UBS

This week’s ground-breaking 10 year Sonia index-linked covered bond transaction from Nationwide is most likely to appeal to other UK Building Societies, as opposed to the large UK commercial banks who have a larger proportion of suitable assets to access central bank funding.

Rating: Baa3/BBB/BBB-

Government yields have risen rapidly this week, led by the US Treasury curve, as investors bet big on stimulus from that country. With little activity in the primary markets, bankers have been speculating on the possible effects of higher yields on issuers’ strategies.

There were flashbacks to last month’s Spanish syndication in the bond market this week as Italy made an emphatic start to the Draghi era in the BTP market. The borrower shed billions of orders on Tuesday after aggressively pricing its first syndication since the appointment of the ex-ECB chief as the country’s prime minister. Burhan Khadbai reports.

Two factors bear outsized influence on capital markets — Covid-19 and central bank stimulus. But the temptation to see these powerful forces culminating in one of two extreme outcomes — another crash as a feeble economy flounders, or a boom like the 1920s US — must be resisted.

This week was the busiest of the year so far for bank senior supply in euros, as issuers took advantage of strong market conditions after posting full year results.

If you want to be Europe’s leading global investment bank, you've got to have a leading role in the UK, the region's biggest fee pool. And that means having a strong corporate broking platform, writes David Rothnie.

Credit Suisse and Barclays reported full year results on Thursday that showed each expanding market share in key areas — in equity capital markets and M&A for Credit Suisse, and the markets business for Barclays.