Europe

JD Sports, the UK sporting equipment retailer, is looking at the possibility of raising equity capital to help it through the next few months of Covid-19 lockdowns and to take advantage of investment opportunities in the future.

Moonpig, the online greetings card company, has set a price range on its IPO, which values the company at almost £1.2bn at the top of the range.

CureVac, the German biotechnology company, has launched a $523m share sale to fund late stage clinical trials for its Covid-19 vaccine, and an expansion of its manufacturing capacity.

An undercapitalised bank in the crosshairs of a market rout can expect counterparties to demand higher margin calls, particularly when a lot of its assets are already encumbered, as is the case at many European banks. This is a problem of the European Central Bank’s making and one that only it can fix. Making covered bond repo haircuts more severe would be a good place to start.

German car part maker Stabilus began marketing a Schuldschein on Monday, as many consider whether the automotive sector should be back on investors' buy lists.

The European Central Bank will use a new climate change centre to improve its work on the topic, while also investing in a new green bond fund set up by the Bank for International Settlements.

AUTO1, the online marketplace for secondhand cars, has revealed the price range on its Frankfurt IPO. Two cornerstone investors have committed to buy throughout the range.

Dexia Crédit Local raised £750m with a December 2026 bond on Monday, gathering a generously oversubscribed order book and pulling in the spread during execution, promising a strong reception for Asian Development Bank on Tuesday. OeKB will come to market with a dollar five year.

The European Central Bank meeting on January 21 did not strike a pleasing note for investors in eurozone government bonds, and spreads are still wider. But primary market participants seem unconcerned.

The covered bond market bounced back from last week’s temporary supply indigestion on Monday, following strong deal outcomes for DZ Hyp and Société Générale, which issued the tightest French transaction of the year.

Svenska Handelsbanken has become the latest European bank to put out a call notice for one of its additional tier ones. Market participants are expecting a clean sweep of redemptions for the asset class this year.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank launched its first green bond this week, attracting twice as much demand as it needed for its €500m senior print.