Switzerland

Swiss bank UBS priced two block trades in companies on Thursday night, despite wider market concern over the spread of a deadly strain of coronavirus.

Credit Suisse secured the lowest spread for a Yankee bank referencing the secured overnight financing rates (Sofr) on Thursday, breaking the previous record set just over a week ago.

UPC, part of Liberty Global’s European telecoms empire, is marketing dollar and euro term loan ‘B’s to pay off a $1.14bn issue of 5.375% senior secured notes. The refinancing comes only a few months after Sunrise cancelled its takeover of UPC’s Swiss business — to the disappointed of Liberty.

Credit Suisse became the first issuer of additional tier one (AT1) paper market in dollars this year, seizing the high levels of appetite for this asset class to print through fair value.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers has appointed Alex Maubourguet to take charge of its new absolute return strategy.

Shares in Schmolz + Bickenbach, the Swiss steel maker, surged 9% on Friday after the company said it is due to price its Sfr325m rights offer at Sfr0.30, the top of the range, securing its future after a long period of underperformance.

The Swiss franc bond market has been able to withstand — just — the destructive forces of negative rates and yields and is looking forward to a new year in which green structures are set to blossom. Philip Moore reports

Struggling Swiss steelmaker Schmolz + Bickenbach has launched an emergency rights issue after the Swiss market regulator FINMA approved it on Monday.

Investors piled into the blocks market on Tuesday night in a rare accelerated trade in Flughafen Zurich AG, the owner and operator of Zurich airport.

Swiss Pfandbriefbank issued a Sfr1.1bn (€1bn) three part deal on Monday which was notable for both its size and the tight spread achieved.

Demand for green issuance outweighs supply in Swiss francs, said bankers after Swiss Life raised Sfr600m last week in a deal that saw all three of its tranches increased to their maximum size and priced at the tight end of the guidance range.

Hungry investors gulped down a Sfr420m block trade in shares of Sig Combibloc, the Swiss food and beverage packaging company, on Wednesday night after banks allowed shareholder Onex Capital to sell shares early.