Europe

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress of Europe's supranationals and agencies at the start of March.

Vattenfall, the Swedish state power company, issued its second green bond on Thursday, to an enthusiastic reception from investors, who drove the €500m note’s pricing very close to the issuer’s curve.

The Bank of England may soon tweak its macroprudential policies and introduce a new funding scheme for banks to mitigate the economic impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic on companies. The measures would help lenders at a time when they could face pressure from lower rates and rising impairments.

Transition bonds, one of the hottest talking points of the past year in the green bond market, made a decisive step forward this week when Cadent Gas, the UK’s largest gas distributor, issued a €500m deal that attracted large orders from environmentally concerned investors, even though some green bond funds shunned it. Jon Hay reports.

Banks are going to play an outsized role in softening the economic impact of Covid-19 in the euro area.

Green deals from Hypo Vorarlberg and Russian Railways were sold in Swiss francs this week in what were immensely tricky conditions. The market was awash with deals in January and February, but many feel the spread of coronavirus will bring a halt to the momentum moving into March.

Hopes of supply for senior and subordinated financial institution bonds have crumbled amid spread volatility, washed away by fears of the impact of Covid-19 coronavirus on bank balance sheets.

The flow of money into bonds and equities in emerging markets in February slowed to its lowest level since the 'trade tantrum' last August, amid signs that the spread of the coronavirus has prompted a reassessment of country risk.

Shares in guarantor loans company Amigo Holdings plunged more than 25% at the open on Thursday while its high yield bond, a 7.625% 2024, was marked down more than 30 points, as founder James Benamor quit the board, then published a lengthy blog post describing the company as "committing slow motion suicide". Amigo hit back quickly with a statement rejecting many of Benamor’s comments but prices failed to bounce back.

Thierry Roland has been picked to lead HSBC’s new RWA Optimisation Unit, where the bank will put assets that do not meet its return requirement.

Capita raised £719m of equity in May 2018 via a deal that was billed as the path to securing its financial future after a difficult period for the outsourcing sector. However, the firm has now conceded that the amount raised was not enough to offset its decline in revenues.

Lancashire County Council raised £350m ($453.5m) of five year cash on Thursday through the UK Municipal Bonds Agency platform. It is the first local authority to do so since the MBA was set up.