Europe

Bank of America made a paper loss on a €455.4m block trade of shares in Sampo, the Finnish financial services group, on Tuesday night.

ING Belgium has mandated lead managers for its first covered bond since September 2018 and its fifth since the programme’s inception in 2013. The prospective deal may just avoid being issued with a negative yield, but it’s a close call.

Citi has given Fabio Lisanti an expanded job as head of Western Europe markets.

Nordic banks Länsförsäkringar Bank (LF Bank) and Landsbankinn were able to offer “attractive value” in the preferred senior market this week, amid a general hunt for yield among credit investors.

Piraeus Bank took advantage of the recent hunt for yield in the euro market this week, pricing a new tier two with a yield of 5.5% on Wednesday. The €500m bond was eight times subscribed, which is testament to the prevailing hunt for yield in the bond market.

UniCredit was greeted with more than €7bn of demand for a new additional tier one in the euro market on Wednesday, as the bank appeared to take its first steps towards including subordinated debt as part of its stack of Pillar 2 capital.

BNP Paribas launched a non-preferred senior bond at 73bp over mid-swaps this week, which included a small new issue concession to give room for a bit of secondary market performance for investors.

Agence Française de Développement is looking to expand its thematic bond framework to include the issuance of social-labelled debt.

Some recent covered bond issues would have barely have made it over the line without the European Central Bank’s help. Meanwhile, valuations are elevated. But the market still looks attractive compared with unsecured credit, a leading investor told GlobalCapital on Wednesday.

Virgin Money is getting ready to launch its first sale of euro-denominated debt from its holding company, as the UK challenger bank looks to meet a 2022 deadline for the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

The UK’s Gerald Group has signed its annual dollar revolving credit facility, with the metals trader growing the size of its banking group and increasing the size of its deal to $253.5m.

Investors in the SSA market are piling into long dated bonds, leaving aside any coronavirus-driven fears and swelling the order books on 30 year and 50 year paper to record breaking levels, in what bankers are calling a 'one way market'.