Europe

US private placement agents have struggled to attract their typical stable of well rated corporates to their market this year. Public bond markets have proven too cheap for PP funding to compete and the European wing of the market has suffered as a consequence. But instead of waiting for the scales to tip back, agents should find new European borrowers from the financial institutions sector.

It is the year of the ox in China and for equity investors 2021 is the year of the bull. Stock buyers continue to be optimists despite the economic ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and are convinced that the spread of vaccinations across the globe will soon kick-off a festival of consumer spending.

European investors have wholeheartedly embraced the EU’s Next Generation EU programme and piled into risky assets in anticipation of a swifter recovery. But rating agencies are less convinced, warning that only the substance and implementation of national recovery plans will determine the trajectory of European growth.

Italy came to the market for its first syndication since a seismic rally in the sovereign’s bonds after Mario Draghi agreed to form a new government earlier this month. But despite the huge confidence from investors in BTPs, a compression of 4bp from initial price thoughts for a new 10 year led to a dramatic loss of over €45bn orders.

Spain’s new 50 year euro benchmark, which was priced last week, has performed well in the secondary market with the spread narrowing by 3bp, according to levels provided by ICE Data Services.

Nationwide Building Society has become the first borrower to issue a 10 year deal linked to the Bank of England’s Sonia index. The covered bond, which was issued on Tuesday with a highly oversubscribed order book, provided Nationwide with its cheapest ever funding and will be closely watched by other issuers looking to make similar deals.

Real estate is set to continue to be a key source of equity capital markets issuance in EMEA over the coming months as companies navigate the economic reopening driven by the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines according to sources speaking to GlobalCapital.

Negotiations between the International Monetary Fund and some emerging market countries are yielding mixed results. While some sub-Saharan African sovereigns are making progress in their talks, Ukraine's long-running saga to unlock emergency funding has been unsuccessful so far.

JP Morgan has appointed a new team of senior investment bankers focused on special purpose acquisition companies in Europe, after over $100bn was raised over the past year by cash shells, mostly in the US.

Covered bonds spreads make "no sense" against other asset classes, according to market participants, but issuers can still expect to price bonds inside fair value and be confident their deals will perform thanks to the impact of European Central Bank purchases and negative net supply.

Will Adderley, the deputy chairman of home goods and furnishing company Dunelm, has sold a 15m share stake in the company raising £192m.

The Austrian covered bond issuer Bawag has bought Depfa Bank from the German wind-down agency, FMS Wertmanagement.