Switzerland

RAG Stiftung has sold half of its stake in Stadler Rail, the train manufacturing company that floated on the SIX Swiss Exchange last year.

The EU should further loosen bank leverage ratio requirements if it wants to avoid a credit crunch amid Covid-19, according to Michael Lever, head of prudential regulation at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

A strong performance in the restricted tier one (RT1) instruments has put the niche insurance bond market in the spotlight recently. Some investors have made strong returns from the asset class, as valuations have recovered during the coronavirus crisis.

Investors poured into an accelerated trade in Swiss biopharmaceutical company Idorisia on Tuesday night, causing bookrunners to grow the deal by 1m shares. The success of the deal shows how highly investors value growth in the depressed economic environment of the Covid-19 pandemic.

European banks are set to follow sovereign and supranational institutions and begin issuing senior bonds dedicated to fighting Covid-19 under existing ESG frameworks.

The Canton of Geneva took its 2020 funding up to almost Sfr1.2bn ($1.2bn) this week with a triple tranche deal — the most it has funded in a single year since 2013, according to Dealogic. Elsewhere, an attractive basis for dollar funders led a pair of rare issuers to return to the market.

Rating: A1/AA-

A Sfr350m block trade in shares of Swiss software company SoftwareOne was priced quickly last night as investors rushed into the first equity capital markets deal in the company's stock since its 2019 IPO.

Banks are spying new opportunities with green and social bond funding, with the asset classes having outperformed in the credit markets during the coronavirus crisis.

Credit Suisse has become the first Swiss bank to issue a green bond in the euro market, and has also marketed a rare floating rate note. The trades were testament to improving market conditions and the ability for strong names to sell less common products.

Issuers are starting to feel more comfortable with the new normal of wider spreads as a flurry of deals dusted the Swiss franc market, including a rare operating-company level visit from UBS.

Swiss franc bond spreads have failed to tighten as much as they have in the euro market, and the lack of price action meant few issuers ventured out this week. A trio of domestic deals comprised the only new supply.