Goldman Sachs

Risk appetite in the equity blocks market in Europe has improved significantly, according to market sources, and a UK biomedical research charity is the latest vendor to take advantage of the better conditions by offloading a chunk of its stake in Syncona, the FTSE 250 life sciences investment company.

Unédic priced through fair value for its first bond of the year on Wednesday, as the European Central Bank’s announcement of fresh liquidity supercharged an already red hot euro SSA market. African Development Bank will hope to find similar success in the 10 year part of the curve after mandating banks for its first benchmark of the year.

China’s industrial gas supplier Yingde Gases Group has launched a $300m borrowing into general syndication.

China’s Frontage Holdings Corp, which provides support to pharmaceutical companies, has refiled a draft IPO prospectus with Hong Kong’s stock exchange.

Embassy Office Parks Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) has global long-only investors on tenterhooks as it prepares to launch its smaller-than-expected Rp47.5bn ($683m) IPO, having filed the final terms for India’s first Reit listing.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) is planning to bring in new safeguards to clamp down on credit default swaps (CDSs) being used to trigger manufactured defaults.

Rating: B1/B+/BB-

Rating: A1/A+

Dollar SSA issuance is expected to pick up next week, thanks to a change in the euro/dollar basis swap that is making issuance in the currency more attractive for euro funders. There was still a smattering of dollar trades this week, including a Sofr-linked floater that broke new ground for the format.

Shares in Funding Circle Holdings, the UK peer-to-peer lending platform, closed up on Thursday despite the company reporting a widening loss in 2018 because of the costs of its £440m IPO on the London Stock Exchange in September.

Following the success of its first 10 year bond in almost a decade, Greece is looking to have a frequent presence in the debt capital markets. The sovereign may even return with either a tap or a new issue this year, even though it has met its minimum planned issuance of benchmark bonds for 2019 and has a significant cash buffer.

Futu Holdings, the parent of Hong Kong-based Futu Securities, has pulled off the first IPO by a Chinese online brokerage. The company was on track to raise $160m on Thursday after making a late change to the deal, cutting the size of its float and adding a private placement to an international fund. Jonathan Breen reports.