Europe

Investors stepped up on Monday night to support UK retailer WH Smith in its struggle with Covid-19 disruption in a £165.9m equity raise. Assura, the UK REIT focused on GP surgeries and NHS properties, also raised £185m of investment capital on Monday night.

UniCredit has said that it will redeem €2.5bn of tier two capital next month, with regulators allowing banks to manage their debt capital stacks freely during the coronavirus crisis.

A trade in Belgian-listed brewer AB InBev has reopened the secondary blocks market with a sale of a €375.35m block by South African Breweries on behalf of participants in the Zenzele Black Economic Empowerment Scheme.

Covered bond investors have begun to return, primary market spreads have tentatively started to tighten and new issue concessions are coming down — which theoretically bodes well for a broadening of supply. But bankers, battered by the stresses of the last month, remain cautious.

Caisse Centrale du Crédit Immobilier de France (3CIF) came to market with a five year bond on Monday, paving the way for fellow French agency SNCF to follow up with its green debut.

The dollar market is returning to full swing for SSA borrowers, but its depth could be tested next week when two of its biggest names are expected to hit screens in the same tenor.

Swedish Export Credit (SEK) joined the ranks of SSAs increasing their funding programmes in response to the Covid-19 crisis this week. Meanwhile, Norway’s Kommunalbanken (KBN) has dropped its target by $2bn as a result of a weakening Norwegian kroner.

Robert Ritchie is joining Wells Fargo as head of banking and capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Eurozone sovereigns extend their syndication spree this week with Cyprus and Ireland mandating banks for new deals on Monday. Both sovereigns are preparing bigger funding programmes in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adani Transmission has raised a further $90m US private placement, according to market sources, after it became earlier this year the first Indian company to raise debt in the market since 2007.

Equity bankers have suggested that some shareholders might be tempted to come to market to sell secondary shares in accelerated trades, reopening a market largely shut because of pandemic-related volatility.

Shares in UK newsagent chain WH Smith rose more than 4% on Monday morning after it confirmed it was preparing a capital increase to repair its balance sheet after the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus led to a large drop in the number of shoppers at its lucrative airport stores.