Europe

Virgin Money UK tested the strength of the sterling market this week by looking to raise tier two debt. The UK lender was able to tighten pricing by 50bp and print inside fair value, and the new trade accompanied a tender offer of the issuer’s old securities.

BPCE’s seven year benchmark issued on Wednesday was subscribed more than six times and priced flat to the curve. The "overwhelming" demand caught leads off-guard and suggests eurozone issuers can now price deals with negative new issue premiums (NIPs) for deals with a restricted size.

Germany received overwhelming support for its debut green bond on Wednesday, which was sold via syndication and twinned with a conventional Bund of the same maturity and coupon in what it is a brand new structure for issuing green debt.

Equity capital markets investors welcomed the return of Russian deals on Tuesday night as two large shareholders exited Detsky Mir, the children’s retailer. Bankers expect more deals to come and are urging sellers, if possible, to come to market early to avoid running close to the US presidential election in November.

Belgian fintech company UnifiedPost Group has announced its intention to float on Euronext Brussels.

Finsbury, the communications consultancy, has hired Justin Shinebourne, former head of equity advisory for Europe at Barclays.

HSBC has hired Jan Laubjerg for a new position as global head of natural resources.

Credit Suisse has picked Fabien Antignac to be head of leveraged finance for the EU.

Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance is planning to sell a Rmb6.26bn ($917m) dual tranche auto securitization transaction next week after a six-month break from the onshore market. The issuer has doubled the length of the revolving period compared to its previous outing.

All eyes in the primary euro public sector bond market are fixed on the expected arrival of Germany's green Bund this week, but there were still some other deals announced on Tuesday. Greece is sticking to its plan for a syndicated bond issuance every quarter and Berlin hopes to match the success of its compatriot Land NRW in the 30 year part of the curve.

Germany’s long promised green debut is set to come to market this week in what is turning out to be a hectic one for the green bond market.

After a period of quiet, the Schuldschein market is creaking back into life. At least four international companies have entered the market in the past week on the hunt for new debt.