Europe

The Republic of Finland and the State of North Rhine Westphalia hired banks on Monday to prepare syndicated bonds at the long end of the euro curve. Yields of eurozone haven assets remain compressed while fears of the coronavirus outbreak intensify.

Bank of America has appointed Snigdha Singh to head up its rates trading team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Caffil mandated lead managers on Monday for the longest core European covered bond of the year so far. The deal takes advantage of the surge in demand for absolute return following a plunge in yields that has taken most of the covered bond market into negative yielding territory. Bankers are also hopeful that Nordic covered bond supply will emerge this week.

The Republic of Poland pulled in €6bn of orders for a five year benchmark bond on Monday, with the issue four times covered as coronavirus fear still ripped financial markets.

Alpha Bank announced plans for a new issue of tier two capital on Monday, as the bank looks make use of a favourable backdrop in the bond market and renewed investor interest in Greek assets.

European financial institutions have made their fastest start to a year for nearly a decade, front-loading their funding plans to make use of incredibly favourable conditions in the primary market for bonds.

SMBC Aviation Capital, an aircraft leasing company, has closed a $600m dual-tranche borrowing with 14 banks.

Anglo-South African bank Investec Group has launched the spin-off of its asset management division, Ninety One ,on the London Stock Exchange.

January's total primary covered bond volume was the second highest since 2014, albeit 25% down on last year in euros. February is typically a much slower month, but supply could keep pace if issuers look to the asset class for execution certainty amid mounting concern around the potential impact of a new coronavirus in China.

Members of the European Parliament voted against the European Banking Authority’s proposed executive director on Thursday, following fears about a revolving door between the regulator and lobbyists.

The UK Debt Management Office has selected the syndicate that will run the books for its upcoming tap — its final syndication of the 2019/2020 financial year.

Shares in Aston Martin Lagonda, the UK maker of luxury cars, surged by more than 20% on Friday morning after the company unveiled a £500m rescue deal led by Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire Formula One investor. Sources close to the deal discuss his plan to transform the company, which has struggled since it listed in 2018.