Europe

JP Morgan Chase has sold £59m of shares in BT Group, the UK telecommunications company, on behalf of former holders of BT’s American Depositary Receipts.

Europe’s corporate bond market showed the same kind of energy on Tuesday that the US market did three times last week, as a clutch of blue chip issuers launched new deals on the very first day of stability the market offered. Sanofi found huge demand and only a slight slowness from the UK being in lockdown.

Short selling bans in several European countries have led to fears that regulators may move to shut down stock markets altogether if the turbulence caused by the spread of Covid-19 worsens further, but this would be a serious mistake.

GSO Capital Partners, the credit unit of private equity firm Blackstone, has raised roughly $4.5bn for its second European direct lending fund, according to an SEC filing. But as the coronavirus pandemic wrecks corporate balance sheets, several sources are concerned with how European companies will fare.

The primary public sector bond market came back to life on Tuesday as a pair of sovereigns and the European Investment Bank sold deals alongside German states. But it was far from a case of picking up where they left off as borrowers were made to pay new issue premiums of up to 20bp versus the secondary market levels on screens.

Germany has said it will take the unprecedented step of buying equity stakes in German businesses to protect its economy against the damage caused by the spread of the coronavirus.

The UK government’s offer on Friday to pay 80% of the wages of furloughed workers came in the nick of time to save thousands of jobs in manufacturing and services. But few of those affected realised they were benefiting from a German idea. The move highlights how the coronavirus crisis is causing a rapid dissemination of techniques around the world.

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, March 23. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

BPCE took advantage of the improvement in credit sentiment to issue a €1bn five year covered bond on Tuesday. The deal attracted a granular order book and was priced close to where it would have been expected to come in light of recent Canadian deals — 20bp above theoretical fair value.

NMC Health’s $360m convertible bonds are trading at mere cents on the dollar, suggesting virtually no recovery value after the scandal-hit UAE hospitals group said on Tuesday it had discovered even more undisclosed debt.

Bank of America has become the first financial institution to launch a new deal in the European credit market for over a month. The US lender paid a huge premium for its €1.5bn senior bond on Tuesday, but it was able to move past its initial price thoughts on the back of a solid set of orders from investors.

The UK government’s decision to lock down the country on Monday night has increased talk that companies, retailers in particular, will soon need equity capital market funding. However, with market volatility still high, recapitalisations will have to be small, or they will have to wait.