Switzerland

Temenos, the Swiss banking software company, is in advanced discussions about an all cash offer for Fidessa, the UK trading technology firm, for around £1.4bn, which is likely to involve some debt issuance.

Brexit wrecked a recent attempt by Switzerland to adopt parts of EU financial regulation, injecting a dose of politics into the previously orderly arrangements between the two jurisdictions, and creating uncertainty for EU firms trading on the Swiss stock exchange.

A plunge in global stock prices at the start of the week only closed the European investment grade corporate bond market for a day before Novartis attracted €6.5bn of combined demand for a triple tranche offering.

The plunge in global stock prices has only caused the European investment grade corporate bond market to close for one day. On Wednesday, two pharmaceutical companies from different ends of the the ratings spectrum brought multi-tranche deals which attracted more than €9.5bn of combined demand.

AMAG Leasing, the Swiss vehicle lessor, priced two new Swiss franc bonds this week. A Sfr150m (€129m) five year transaction on Monday was followed by a Sfr100m two year on Friday.

Luxury goods group Compagnie Financière Richemont has entered into a backstop loan agreement as part of its all-cash bid for the rest of internet retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) that it does not already own.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has agreed to strengthen financial markets cooperation with Switzerland's finance ministry, an effort that will encompass pushing forward China's RMB internationalisation agenda.

Reverse enquiries led to two large share sales over the last week, with one of the blocks executed as a pure club transaction without the need for an accelerated bookbuild at all.

Going into 2018, many in Europe’s equity capital markets anticipated a busy first quarter. So far those predictions have proven correct, with a rush of deals this week.

Europe’s equity linked new issue market is enjoying a busy start to the year, with four deals totalling €1.56bn priced in the past week. The latest was a Sfr300m seven year convertible bond (CB) issue by Swiss Prime Site, the property investment company.

JP Morgan launched on Thursday January 4 the first European equity-linked bond of the year: a $350m bond exchangeable into shares of Dufry, the Swiss duty free retailer. The deal is designed to hedge derivatives positions the bank already held on Dufry shares.

An announcement on Tuesday morning that Oxford University would be meeting UK investors ahead of an ultra-long-dated transaction caused a stir across the corporate bond market this week.