Europe

If companies rushing to raise equity capital defined last year’s spring, what about this year’s March and April? Well, they could prove to be just as busy — for different, and more positive reasons. This year, companies are looking to raise capital from buoyant investors as they take advantage of the effect of Covid-19 vaccines and the reopening of economies. Aidan Gregory and Sam Kerr report.

Hamburger Hochbahn, the city public transport operator, made its bond market debut on Wednesday, slotting into the market neatly with a €500m 10 year green bond and a €3bn order book.

The depth of demand for financial institutional funding in the domestic Scandinavian currency markets was illustrated this week with a series of covered bonds and subordinated new issues.

WisdomeTree, an exchange traded fund provider, has launched a new ETF to track the performance of the bonds the European Union is issuing to fund its coronavirus recovery efforts.

Golden Ocean Group, the Burmuda-registered oil and dry bulk shipping company, has completed a Nkr2.87bn ($338.5m) capital raising backed by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen.

HSBC Asset Management has partnered with HSBC UK to launch a direct lending platform, targeting smaller and mid-cap corporates.

The momentum behind green equity capital markets built further this week in the UK, with the latest deal from Greencoat UK Wind and the opening of books on the London flotation of NextEnergy Renewables, the solar power company.

After nearly a year without any travel, many of us have become desperate to leave the gilded cage of Hong Kong. I, for one, would give anything to be able to laze on the beaches of Thailand with a Piña Colada in my hand — if I could only avoid the three-week quarantine on my return to Hong Kong.

Charlie Jacobs, senior partner and chairman at law firm Linklaters, is set to become co-head of UK investment banking at JP Morgan.

Nykredit Realkredit is expected to open order books for two Swedish krona covered bonds on Thursday with a combined value of about €2bn, including one secured on green mortgages.

Italy hit the market with a dual tranche on Tuesday, raising €4bn with a 30 year linker and €10bn with a new 10 year BTP. A sharp move in pricing on the 10 year leg meant it lost €45bn of orders, but SSA bankers on and off the deal said the trade was still a good result.

Though both Schuldscheine and US private placements are suffering from droughts of European deals, many of the larger investors in these markets are not too parched. Having used these markets as footholds to develop corporate relationships, they are now keeping deals flowing bilaterally.