Europe

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, June 22. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

Banks are hoping that there will be more European primary capital raising in the weeks ahead as companies begin to assess what will be needed to rebuild their balance sheets and whether the time is ripe for growth. A €341m share trade in German firm CompuGroup Medical on Monday night may show a way forward for issuers.

CNP Assurances and Helvetia Europe have added to issuance momentum in the insurance sector, giving investors the chance to put money into subordinated capital. The tier two bonds showed that ‘the market is back in shape’, said one deal arranger.

German pharmaceuticals company Boehringer Ingelheim has sold its remaining stake in UK drug maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals, after a surge in investor interest in pharma stocks during the Covid-19 global pandemic.

UniCredit opened books on Tuesday for what could be its last capital transaction of the year. The bank favoured the dollar market for its new tier two, having sold a senior transaction in euros only last week.

Recent share price movements imply that a third of the loans under moratoria at Italian banks could end up as unlikely to pay (UTP) exposures, according to analysts at Equita, an investment bank, who expect that the true figure could be closer to 10%.

Kommuninvest has lowered its funding target for 2020 because of a smaller than expected need for lending after the initial shock of the Covid-19 crisis.

George Sager has left Goldman Sachs, where he had spent 10 years on the syndicate desk in London focusing on sovereign, supranational and agency borrowers.

Veolia Environnement, a French water, waste and energy management company, raised Rmb1.5bn ($212m) from a three year private placement Panda bond on Monday, pricing the deal inside of expectations.

The Région Ile-de-France printed a dual tranche green and sustainability bond on Monday, raising a combined €800m with 10 and 20 year notes, as the green debt market returns to prominence

Hopes that the recovery from the Covid-19 recession can be a green one have been widespread throughout the crisis, and no sector is more important to that aspiration than renewable energy. The industry as a whole has been well buffered from the downturn, but there are points of pain, and the post-pandemic market will be different.

Kommunalbanken snagged NZ$500m ($324.5m) on Friday with the second largest Kauri bond of the year. Interest in the New Zealand dollar is high, with NZ$1.1bn worth of SSA Kauri deals printed so far this month — and more are set to follow.