Europe

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.

The rush of Spac IPOs in Europe is continuing, with the launch of a new Frankfurt-listed cash shell backed by Klaus Hommels, focused on acquiring a company in the technology sector.

Two sizeable block trades priced on Tuesday evening demonstrated appetite for sell-downs after several quite weeks while companies were in earnings blackouts. Bankers expect more sales in the next few weeks as bullish equity investors line up to take on risk.

ING executed a large sterling deal this week, choosing the green format for its new senior issue from the holding company.

A sustained revival of confidence in Turkish markets has caused the lira and other metrics to improve in recent days. That, market participants said, has strengthened the country's standing in international debt markets to the point where it could consider a long dated new issue, though concerns around rising US rates are simmering away in the background.