Europe

Italian SME lender Illimity Bank is getting ready to sell its first senior bond by asking investors what sort of a price they would want to pay for the single B rated paper.

In calls with the UK Debt Management Office on Monday, the majority of Gilt-edged Market Makers (GEMMs) and some Gilt investors called for the UK to launch a new conventional bond maturing in either 2046 or 2051 via syndication next month.

Top tier Turkish lender VakifBank was in the market on Tuesday for its debut sustainable dollar bond, which market participants say is likely to gain strong demand from a wide investor base.

The recent strong run of equity-linked issuance in EMEA continued on Monday night with a €200m tap by French payments company Worldline of its 2026 convertible bonds.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena found plenty of demand for a new senior bond in the euro market on Tuesday, aided by growing speculation about the possibility of a merger with UniCredit.

Onex Corporation, the Canadian private equity company, sold the last of its shares in Swiss packaging company SIG Combibloc on Monday evening, ending the association it has had with the company since it bought it in 2014. The block sold was worth Sfr657m ($725m).

Credit Suisse has picked the outgoing chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, António Horta-Osório, as its next chairman.

Euro area finance ministers said on Monday evening that they would introduce a backstop for the Single Resolution Fund up to two years earlier than planned, following "substantial" risk reduction in the banking system.

Jean Pierre Mustier will retire as CEO of UniCredit in April, the bank announced this evening, as the board no longer agrees with his strategy. The change could mean UniCredit pivots towards Italian priorities and political influence.

The merger of S&P Global and IHS Markit, announced on Monday, will create a larger data provider for financial markets.

Schuldschein investors have soured on auto, travel and retail sector borrowers through the coronavirus pandemic, which had historically brought significant deal flow to the market. Now bookrunners are scrabbling to find new sectors for investors to lend to.

The Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank, is adding a “negative screening” process to its purchases of corporate bonds under its quantitative easing programme, meaning it will no longer buy the bonds of the most polluting companies.