Europe

The European Union wrapped up its first bond of 2021 under the Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) funding programme in style with a quick execution and another impressively sized order book.

UBS, the first major European investment bank to report fourth quarter results, smashed through expectations in global banking, with that part of its business benefiting from equity capital markets revenue more than doubling year-on-year.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, January 25. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Ziraat Bankası is in the market with its first ever sustainability bond — a five year dollar benchmark.

Argenta Spaarbank has mandated leads to issue its debut covered bond deal. The mandate follows the National Bank of Belgium's decision to grant it a covered bond licence, taking the number of issuers in the country to five, boosting the prospects for supply this year.

The Republic of Slovenia is set to sell its longest bond ever on Tuesday, picking banks for a 60 year euro benchmark — a 36 year extension of its curve.

BNP Paribas is set to redeem one of its legacy tier one bonds in full this quarter, as more banks follow recent guidance from the European Banking Authority and clear out old capital instruments.

Some small UK housing associations are preparing to launch private placements, breathing life into the product after a month of next to no deal flow.

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.