Europe

Kaspi.kz, the largest payments and e-commerce company in Kazakhstan, announced on Monday that it would proceed with an IPO on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after filing a registration document last week.

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Commerzbank has come through a period of intense scrutiny with a no-nonsense strategy that reflects its culture. A dash of investment banking ambition is thrown in, writes David Rothnie.

Holding Group Almex, the investment vehicle owned by Dinara Kulibaeva and her husband Timur Kulibayev, closed books on a 10% stake in Halyk Bank on Thursday, sold via a marketed sale of global depositary receipts in London and Astana.

Schuldschein arrangers have actively prevented US investors from lending in the market over the past few years, for fear of the consequences of US regulators ruling the instrument a bond security as opposed to a loan. But as new arrangers enter the market, the old guard’s ability to protect their cherished loan instrument — and their market share — is in question, Silas Brown reports.

As IPO investors are considering the advantages of Kaspi, the Kazakh fintech and e-commerce firm seeking to list in London, its CEO, Mikheil Lomtadze, talked to GlobalCapital about the share sale and the advantages of being the Alibaba of central Asia.

Verallia, the French glass manufacturer, has closed the books on its IPO with the final guidance suggesting an offer price above the bottom of the range, despite difficult equity markets.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt will become the fourth Norwegian bank to issue a green covered bond and has mandated leads for a roadshow following publication of its green and sustainability framework.

KommuneKredit’s senior funding and investor relations manager Lasse Vest has left the Danish agency for Danske Bank.

The financial institutions bond market has absorbed an enormous volume of supply over the past month, putting a strain on trading levels for outstanding securities. FIG bankers nonetheless expect that spreads could start to tighten once more in the coming weeks, amid a calmer flow of new issuance.

Nordgold and Veon Holdings both printed bonds on Wednesday. But a difficult market backdrop forced Veon to print at a smaller size than expected and at a wide end of revised guidance. The execution of Nordgold’s bond seemed smoother, but investors said it was struggling to stay above reoffer on Thursday morning.

Lenders have allowed a cut to Turkish bank margins in their latest refinancing round, according to people familiar with the matter, as the lira recovers from its 2018 crash and the local regulator becomes tougher on bad loans.