Europe

Regulators must tighten the rules and standardise definitions surrounding sustainable financial assets such as green bonds to attract demand from investors worried by greenwashing, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

The buyout bonds for Merlin Entertainments and Kantar, backed by Blackstone and Bain, will set new standards for European issuers. If the investors strike down the "net short" clauses — as they did in an earlier Inmarsat deal — the sponsors may give up on the controversial strategy to battle hedge funds with large CDS positions.

The Schuldschein market has for many centuries attracted buy-and-hold investors, but this may change as some arranging banks are offering lenders opportunities to buy sections of their own Schuldschein positions. But many fear that the whiff of secondary markets will see regulators reclassify the instrument as a security, instead of a loan.

Kernel, a Ukrainian agricultural producer, hit the market on Thursday with a five year non-call three bond and raised $300m with a trade that bankers said was tricky to price.

"Difficult" seems to be the word on the lips of every equity capital market participant this week. Bankers, including those working on super-yacht builder Ferretti's IPO, and deal sponsors have found themselves battling against weak investor sentiment, driven by poor trading in some new deals, market volatility and a desire among fund managers to protect their performance as the year end approaches, writes Sam Kerr.

One of the lessons from the Credit Suisse spy scandal is that there is a dearth of talent capable of leading Europe’s banks through their most challenging period. A succession crisis looms, writes David Rothnie.

UBS has appointed Sarah Mackey as head of leveraged finance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

German tyre manufacturer Continental rolled into the market on Wednesday, one week after it priced its debut floater in the MTN market last week. The manufacturer had enjoyed several years away from the capital markets, before returning in September with a series of public deals. Elsewhere, political events in Turkey have left lira issuance surrounded in “uncertainty.”

Middle Eastern banks returned to the Swiss franc market this week after an absence of almost five months with trades from two Gulf banks providing some respite for yield-starved investors.

Vinit Sahni, co-founder of fintech start-up Arkera and a former senior rates banker, says that his company will help bond buyers take advantage of, what he believes will be, an upturn in local currency bonds ahead of the US election.

SATS, the Norwegian owner and operator of fitness clubs across the Nordic region, has set a price range on its Oslo IPO that values it at over €450m at the top of the range.

Pfandbriefe issued by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank on Wednesday and Hypo Tirol on Thursday struggled to find enough demand. Though spreads are not expected to widen, the deals showed investors are more discerning as uncertainty builds ahead of the European Central Bank (ECB) asset purchases, which are due to commence in November.