Europe

Two top tier SSA borrowers hit opposite ends of the curve on Wednesday. Asian Development Bank launched a trade at the 10 year tenor, braving a sharp sell-off in US Treasuries. KfW appeared at the short end of the curve where only a handful of borrowers have printed this year.

The European Union will dominate the euro public sector bond market next week after sending banks a request for proposals (RFP) on Wednesday for its second Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) transaction of the year.

UniCredit’s global head of equity capital markets and equity syndicate has left the bank after allegations of having done inappropriate side work for Markus Braun, former CEO of the collapsed Germany payments company Wirecard.

Raiffeisenlandesbank Vorarlberg launched a 15 year covered bond on Wednesday that was three times subscribed and priced flat to fair value. It suggested that investors were eager to catch higher yields before they disappear.

Serbia entered the bond market on Wednesday to sell a bond in euros, after entering both dollar and euro markets last year. Fellow Balkan sovereign issuer Croatia is expected to follow it, tapping investors as early as Thursday.

Tryg Forsikring found strong demand for a new restricted tier one (RT1) bond in the Swedish market on Wednesday, as it looked to optimise its capital structure in preparation for the purchase of RSA Insurance Group’s Nordic businesses.

Vantage Towers, the telecoms towers unit of Vodafone, has launched its long-awaited flotation on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, having announced its intention to float on Wednesday.

The outlook for covered bond spreads has improved following this year’s rise in yields, although there is contention over whether the short or long end of the curve is the best place invest.

UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has proposed a “British Recovery Bond” — a retail government issue that would be used to finance SME lending to help kick-start the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. It can be tempting to dismiss such measures as political posturing, but there are some genuine advantages to the proposal, and it deserves its day.

Banks arranging private placements in Europe have started weighing up bringing companies from the financial sector to market, amid a deal drought from the corporate borrowers which are the usual staple fare.

New sanctions from the EU on Russian figures following the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny are set to have little impact on Russia, according to market experts. However, companies withdrawing from the Nord Stream 2 project indicate a growing uneasiness around conducting business with Russian entities.

KommuneKredit mandated banks on Tuesday to follow its Nordic peer into the 10 year part of the euro curve, in what will only be the second public deal in the euro SSA primary market this week.