JP Morgan

JP Morgan was hit hardest as the European Commission on Wednesday fined three banks a total of €485m for manipulating markets in a euro interest rate derivatives cartel.

Green bonds have been a hot topic for several years now, but sovereign issuers have been slow to step up to the plate. Until now. Poland is on the road for a euro-denominated green bond and is meeting investors in London this week.

Banca Monte dei Paschi’s shares leapt 7% on Wednesday morning, on growing hopes that a way will be found for the Italian state to strengthen its balance sheet, enabling it to achieve a €5bn capital raising demanded by the European Central Bank and avoid a bail-in.

The first ever sovereign green bond looks set to be issued by Poland — a coal-reliant nation that was once one of the most outspoken opponents of the UN’s Paris Agreement. Despite incredulity from green finance experts, the deal is an important step for green financing. It raises the environmental agenda within Poland, and offers a firmer commitment to green financing than displayed by any other sovereign so far.

Business travel group Carlson is running a roadshow for what could be the European high yield market's last deal of the year as it aims to refinance its debt with a three tranche bond.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and the underwriters of its €5bn capital raising have agreed with the prospective cornerstone investors in the deal to push back the launch of the sale by three or four days, after the resignation of Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi on Sunday night.

Shares in Laird, the UK supplier of mobile phone parts to Apple and Samsung, fell by as much as 18% on Friday morning after it announced its intention to launch a £185m rights issue to reduce its leverage after a profit warning in October.

Catalent Pharma and Thomas Cook — a reverse Yankee issuer and a UK holidays operator — on Thursday released guidance for high yield deals amounting some €900m in a market that has been mute since November 15.

Low-cost airline VietJet Aviation has kicked off the roadshow for its IPO, in search of demand for a deal that could raise up to D4.4tr ($194.0m).

A trio of Wall Street heavy-hitters plundered the dollar market as December got off to a flyer in the countdown to year end and a probable rate rise.

Issuance in the European leveraged finance market has been one-sided since the shock result of the US election last month. A notable bond-to-loan trend has prevailed, with sponsor-driven single-B issuance making the loan market increasingly hot, while leaving the high yield market out in the cold. Max Bower reports.

DNA, one of Finland’s largest telecommunications companies, closed at €10.10 on its stock exchange debut on Thursday, after pricing its €413m IPO in the lower middle of its range.