Europe

The Swedish National Debt Office has selected the maturity range for its debut green bond and the banks that will lead the transaction, which will take place via syndication in August.

A former fixed income banker at Morgan Stanley has moved to a role outside of the capital markets by joining a Paris-based e-commerce firm that offers a sizing solution to online fashion brands.

Equity investors have welcomed rumours that Japanese conglomerate Softbank is exploring a potential IPO for Arm, the UK semiconductor and software designer, and are hoping that the company might return to the London Stock Exchange.

Fitch played down fears about the impact of payment holidays on UK covered bond pools this week, arguing that high credit quality would offer a strong line of defence against defaults.

Investors have been given their first taste of how regulatory relief could bolster bank capital levels amid Covid-19, after Barclays told the market this week to expect a drastic improvement in its common equity tier one (CET1) ratio in the second quarter.

De Volksbank is set to become the first European bank to issue tier two capital in a green bond format.

IP Group has sold £53.5m of shares in Ceres Power Holding, the UK solid oxide fuel cell maker, via an accelerated bookbuild.

Adrian Lewis, the long-serving head of EMEA equity capital markets at HSBC, left the bank at the end of June to pursue other opportunities unrelated to investment banking and ECM.

HIG Capital has appointed a new head of HIG WhiteHorse Europe, the private equity firm’s European direct lending affiliate.

The European Union leaders’ summit, which begins on Friday, should determine the approval of the bloc's planned €750bn coronavirus recovery fund. The summit is drawing the attention of investors in eurozone periphery government bonds and high grade corporate paper, particularly as the EU is far from agreeing the fund's final size.

Europe’s equity capital markets are preparing for a final few weeks of deals before an expected summer slowdown.

GlobalCapital’s Covered BondMarker shows that the five highest scoring covered bonds this year were all issued by French banks. And, based on the Covered BondMarker League Table, ING has, on average, joint lead managed more high ranking deals than any other bank in the past 12 months.