Europe
-
The Restaurant Group, the owner of numerous UK dining brands including Wagamama and Frankie & Benny's, raised £57m through an equity raise on Wednesday night to see it through what it expects to be a long period of Covid-19 lockdown with all its restaurants closed until June. -
Centerview Partners has appointed ex-Lazard rainmaker Matthieu Pigasse as head of its new French operation, as the boutique advisory firm expands in continental Europe with a 15-strong team.
-
The Eurogroup has, once again, manifestly failed to come to a unanimous position on coronabonds. The bloc does appear to be incrementally adding components to its joint fiscal response, however, with some form of joint recovery fund appearing likely — even if the source of its funding remains a mystery. Jean Comte, Jasper Cox and Lewis McLellan report.
-
Finance professionals may be at greater risk of breaching conduct rules in areas like confidentiality and recording phone calls because they are working from home.
-
Yankee bank and insurance names took centre stage in the dollar market as US banks prepared to give their first insight into the impact of the coronavirus with the arrival of bank earnings season.
-
-
The majority of covered bond ratings are well protected, but even so, the outlook has clearly turned for the worse as sovereign and issuer downgrades will eventually take their toll — particularly for bonds that could cross key regulatory or investment grade thresholds.
-
-
-
Agence Française de Développement (AFD) was the latest public sector agency to head to the euro market this week as it raised €1.5bn on Wednesday with a 10 year benchmark. While the deal was fully subscribed, the order book was not huge and the pricing did not tighten from guidance, indicating that the market may be slowing.
-
It was all eyes on Ireland in the eurozone government bond market this week, as the sovereign printed one of its biggest deals with a record-breaking order book.
-
Svenska Handelsbanken was the only financial institution to issue senior debt in euros this week. The issuance came at a time Swedish banks have been granted an extension of two years to comply with regulatory targets for MREL debt, which might make a short-term dent in issuance.
