Europe

The covered bond market continued to perform well on Wednesday with the ultra-long end of the Dutch curve posting the strongest performance, albeit on no trading flow. French and Canadian deals are also performing well, even as bids were hit in good size. But one major investor said he was aghast at the poor overall liquidity and blamed central bank policy.

The European Parliament was on Thursday set to agree a declaration to the European Commission calling for a “massive recovery package”.

A €1bn block of shares in TeamViewer, the German remote access software company, sold by investment firm Permira, one of its IPO sellers, garnered strong demand from investors on Wednesday evening.

Ukraine’s politicians have finally passed a banking law that will put the country in line for a support package from the International Monetary Fund.

Euro area banks are expected to make use of the relaxation of their Pillar 2 capital requirements by issuing more capital instruments in the coming months, following the example set by Deutsche Bank this week.

Fitch cut the ratings of four Italian banks this week, triggering underperformance in the market and pushing some non-preferred senior bonds into speculative grade territory.

UniCredit began the year with a new template for growth but is now simply trying to help support clients through the crisis, while hoping that the deeper relationships being forged will endure, writes David Rothnie.

The Republic of Finland had to share its return to dollar market on Wednesday with a trio of three year SSA deals. Demand for dollar SSA bonds has been strong this week, and with mandates out for five and seven year deals,issuers are still looking to take advantage

The European Investment Bank inaugurated its sustainability awareness bond (SAB) framework in Australian dollars on Tuesday, while on Wednesday NRW.Bank printed the largest SSA Kangaroo so far this year.

A Sfr350m block trade in shares of Swiss software company SoftwareOne was priced quickly last night as investors rushed into the first equity capital markets deal in the company's stock since its 2019 IPO.

The largest investment banks are not planning on reopening London offices to large numbers of employees any time soon, but they are thinking about how to manage a safe return to work.

The European Central Bank said this week that it wants to be ‘pragmatic’ with its supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP) this year, keeping Pillar 2 capital requirements at stable levels for banks amid the coronavirus crisis.