Search results for

The European Central Bank said this week that Covid-19 could hamper some banks from meeting their targets for the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL), given the likelihood of credit rating downgrades and dislocation in the funding markets.

Alantra is buffing its credit portfolio advisory team with the addition of Marcus Evans and Christos Stefanidis, who will join as managing directors in the UK and Greece. The credit portfolio advisory firm is also opening up offices in Latin America and China.

Technicolor has asked its lenders to waive a default condition so it can appoint a conciliateur and begin a consensual debt restructuring process that includes €400m of new financing and a debt-for-equity swap. This follows the failure of the company’s planned €300m rights issue, announced in mid-February but thrown off course by the coronavirus pandemic.

Tendam, a fashion retailer, is the latest Spanish company to get syndicated loan backing from the state owned Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO), as sectors hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic lean on state support.

Investors welcomed a €781m trade in Italian payments firm Nexi on Tuesday evening after three of the sellers from the firm’s IPO took advantage of a recent rally in the share price to cut some of their stake.

The stream of French covered bond deals was interrupted on Wednesday when KBC Bank returned to the market for the first time in more than two years to issue a long five year, priced slightly inside its own curve. The oversubscribed order book, reflected investor anxiety about the supply drought.

Equities and investment-grade bonds are overpriced in developed markets, according to Tommy Garvey, member of the asset allocation team at GMO. The US-based investment firm has just slashed its exposure to developed equity markets.

Aviva was set to raise £500m of tier two capital on Wednesday, fuelling speculation that the UK insurer would be looking to call one of its outstanding perpetual bonds.

Infineon, the German manufacturer of semiconductors, has completed a €1bn capital raise to partially refinance its acquisition of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. The deal demonstrated investor willingness to put capital to work in strategic equity raises that look beyond funding needs of the coronavirus crisis.

European emerging market names have bulked up deal flow during the Covid-19 crisis and The Republic of North Macedonia continued that trend on Wednesday with a six year euro benchmark deal.

BBVA on Wednesday became the first European financial institution to launch a bond in the euro market to tackle Covid-19, unravelling the appetite for these type of bonds while undergoing a refinancing exercise.

Muddy Waters has fostered a fearsome reputation as a credible, thorough and forceful short seller whose explosive reports are a danger to anyone harbouring a stake in its intended target. Carson Block, its founder and chief investment officer, told GlobalCapital he has never been wrong about a company he’s shorted, though that doesn’t mean he’s made money from every position he has held. According to Block, monetary policies intended to stimulate markets through financial crises actually corrode them, and stifle accountability for serious failures in corporate governance.