Pre-migration untagged articles

The UK DMO got off to a cracking start with its 2010/2011 syndication programme, issuing £8bn of a new 30 year conventional Gilt on Tuesday, the biggest syndication so far, signalling strong demand and approval of the Emergency Budget. The deal attracted more than £10bn of orders, enabling pricing at 1bp over the 2039s, the tight end of the plus 1bp-3bp guidance.

Equity markets have disappointed in the first half of 2010 with deal volumes in Europe hitting $77bn –– a seven year low. But equity bankers have launched IPOs for retailer Ocado and acquisition vehicle Vallar for a combined £1bn. The deals are coming to market as the FTSE 100 hit a 10-month low this week. Are there any signs of investor confidence returning? Read EuroWeek on Friday.

Eric Varvel was confirmed as chief executive of Credit Suisse investment bank on Thursday. Paul Calello, former CEO, becomes chairman. Varvel had been acting CEO.

DBRS has said a ratings upgrade may be warranted on some of the notes that were created as a result of the Canadian ABCP crisis.

Dollar issuance dominated the European commercial paper market this week, as a range of issuers turned to the currency.

The Austrian Federal Financing Agency has appointed Jefferies & Company as a member of the auction panel for Austrian government bonds.

Deutsche Bank has overtaken JPMorgan at the top of the dealer table following the inclusion of a £100m ($150m) one year FRN for Rabobank and a Eu105m ($129m) 20 year fixed rate deal for the Autonomous Community of Valencia. Both notes were issued in May.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest banking group, this week took the place of UBI Banca in launching the first Italian covered bond since mid-April but the handling of the sector’s reopening was criticised.

As the doors to the public bond markets opened wider this week, MTN issuance was once again stunted.

Corporate borrowers are being urged by investors to adopt a set of standardised covenants put forward by investors in a bid to create a deeper, livelier and more transparent market, proponents of the new bond terms argued this week.