Europe

German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen has closed its Schuldschein and agreed to take just over €2bn, according to market sources. Schuldschein participants believe this demonstrates the private market’s ability to compete with its public equivalents.

SoftwareOne Holding, the KKR-backed IT services company, launched its IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange on Monday.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd, the London-listed fund that invests in music catalogues, has launched its £300m share sale to finance the acquisition of more music intellectual property rights.

Some covered bonds issued recently have lacked sparkle, causing concern over the outlook. Even so, spreads still have good scope to tighten, especially in core Europe and the short end of the curve, though possibly not until the start of October, said two traders on Friday.

Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets was marketing its first senior unsecured bond in euros on Friday, taking advantage of a quiet primary market. The issue gave investors a ‘healthy’ new issue premium, according to a FIG banker.

German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen has closed its Schuldschein on Friday, and is about to decide how big to make the deal. ZF's €2.2bn issue in November 2014 is the biggest deal the market has ever seen — but several sources believe this transaction may be bigger.

Banco BPM and Abanca made use of favourable issuance conditions this week to beef up their capital buffers. The Italian lender priced the 10 year non-call five deal at a 4.25% coupon and the Spanish issuer priced its 10.5 year non-call 5.5 year bond at 4.625%.

The Bank of England prides itself on its magisterial oversight of the UK's banking sector. But Metro Bank is going to give it some thorny dilemmas in the coming months that will test its silky skills.

Crédit Agricole, Banque Fédérative du Cedit Mutuel and Société Générale all took advantage this week of cheap funding offered by the sterling market when compared with the euro.

Generali was the talk of the FIG bond market this week as it became the first west European financial institution to issue a tier two capital note in green bond format. The insurer’s pioneering spirit reaped rewards, with the green element variously estimated to have shorn 5bp-10bp from its cost of funding. That could tempt other firms to issue subordinated green debt. David Freitas reports.

Populist governments will be tempted to use the opportunity presented by record low yields to borrow money at close to zero interest rates to reverse austerity and fund major spending schemes, according to the authors of a study into long-term asset returns. Meanwhile, an economist elsewhere suggested lax monetary policy has meant sovereign credit default swap (CDS) prices are underrepresenting risks.

Commerzbank has chosen its human resources boss Bettina Orlopp to be its new chief financial officer. She will oversee the bank’s new strategic programme — ‘5.0’ — which involves the corporate clients division hiring to focus on German distribution.