Europe

The Republic of Belarus ditched euros on its return to bond markets on Wednesday, printing two dollar tranches on which it was able to ratchet pricing tighter.

Green bonds made up the majority of the supply in the euro bank bond market on Thursday, with Hypo Noe and Santander capitalising on strong demand for the asset class.

Stephan Gimpel is leaving Citi to pursue an opportunity in fintech, after 14 years in the US bank’s debt capital markets business.

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co became the second company to use the London-Shanghai Stock Connect scheme this week, listing Global Depository Receipts on London’s bourse. The deal could spur further London-bound issuance by Chinese firms, according to bankers in the UK and Asia. Jonathan Breen and Aidan Gregory report.

European banks joined a flurry of US corporates in the dollar bond market this week, capitalising on favourable conditions to issue deals in large sizes and at negative new issue premiums.

Taylor Wimpey, one of the UK’s largest house builders, has raised £522m in equity capital to acquire land that it thinks will have fallen in value as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Banco de Sabadell proved very popular with a short-dated euro senior deal this week, after issuing in an unusual three year non-call two maturity structure.

Helvetia Holding, the Swiss insurance group, has raised Sfr300m from equity investors to fund its acquisition of Spanish insurer Caser, which it announced in January.

The Dutch State Treasury Agency has announced that it will reopen its inaugural green bond via auction next Tuesday as it looks to bring the trade closer to a benchmark size.

Angus Whelchel, former global head of private capital markets at Barclays, has been hired by US boutique advisory group Moelis & Co to head its private capital markets team.

The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Commerzbank £38m for anti-money laundering failures. One lawyer said the supervisor would be looking for similar culprits.

The European Investment Bank and the State of Brandenburg have mandated banks to bring euro deals on Thursday, in what has been an extremely thin week for supply with issuers well funded and some weakness in secondaries.