Europe

A recent innovation in the green bond market — the transition bond — could help expand the issuer base, according to Credit Suisse’s head of environmental, social and governance strategy. But an investor said the standard of green bonds needed to be maintained.

Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB Noe Wien) found the euro primary market to be quiet but bullish this week, allowing it to launch a new senior unsecured bond at what lead managers saw as a fair pricing level.

The African Export Bank (Afexrimbank) has filed initial paperwork before a potential float on the London Stock Exchange.

Moody’s said on Wednesday that investors’ approval of Lloyds Bank’s request to convert the interest basis on a covered bond from Libor to Sonia was credit positive for the issuer and bodes well for the rest of covered bond and structured finance markets, which must transition to Sonia before 2022.

Bank capital securities have enjoyed a tremendous performance in 2019, leaving specialist fund managers a little nervous about protecting their returns as the year draws to a close.

Banca Farmafactoring, an Italian financial institution with a specialism in factoring services, is preparing its first rated offering of debt in the capital markets after spying an opportunity to take advantage of ‘favourable’ conditions for issuance.

Hypo Tyrol Bank mandated leads on Wednesday for a €500m seven year, to be launched on Thursday.

Equity investors remain highly cautious after recent market sell-offs, which is making it harder for IPOs in the market.

UK coach operator National Express has sold roughly $500m-equivalent US private placements, in dollars, euros and sterling, with substantial delayed draws.

The Inter-American Development Bank and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia only managed to raise small sizes in the sterling market on Tuesday, with the leads on the latter declining to comment on whether the deal was fully subscribed.

Greece and the Province of Québec won strong books in the euro public sector bond market on Tuesday, with the latter returning to the currency for the first time since June 2018. An attractive basis swap for dollar funders to issue in euros has tempted the International Development Association (IDA) out on screens for its first euro benchmark.

Italy is out with initial price thoughts for its first dollar bond since 2010 as it aims to rebuild its curve in the currency. The sovereign is taking indications of interest for five, 10 and 30 year maturities, ahead of an expected launch on Wednesday.