Switzerland

Société Générale was marketing the first ever non-preferred senior bond in Swiss francs on Wednesday, as credit spreads for the country’s banks begin to recover after concerns about a far-right win in May’s French presidential elections.

Credit Suisse finished 2016 with a Sfr2.4bn ($2.39bn) annual net loss but investors found reasons for optimism in the bank’s strong capital position and revenue growth in investment bank and capital markets, causing the stock price to rise 3.05% by 11.30am London time.

Loan bankers are demanding clarity on the true ownership of the 19.5% stake in Rosneft privatised at the end of last year, as Intesa Sanpaolo prepares to syndicate the €5.2bn loan it has provided to back the deal, write Dan Alderson and Jon Hay.

Tuesday night brought fireworks in the blocks market, with a wave of primary and secondary offerings, including a Sfr865m acquisition financing by a Swiss pharmaceutical.

Lonza, the Swiss pharmaceuticals company, completed a 9.4% capital increase through a Sfr865m accelerated bookbuild on Tuesday night led by UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the first step in a two-pronged move to raise Sfr3.3bn for an acquisition.

Shares in Ferrexpo, the Swiss-headquartered iron ore producer active in Ukraine, rose 3.3% on Friday morning after Wigmore Street Investments sold its entire 13.2% stake through an accelerated bookbuild.

Shares in Novartis closed 2.5% higher on Wednesday after it delivered its full year results presentation, in which it announced a share buyback programme and said it was considering options for its struggling eye care division Alcon, which makes contact lenses and eye medicines.

In a relatively quiet week for live equity deals, Novartis, one of Europe’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has said it is considering an IPO or spin-off of its eye care division, and a real estate investment trust announced the year’s first London IPO of significant size.

Investors were clamouring this week to get hold of Credit Suisse’s first dollar additional tier one in more than two and a half years, as the Swiss lender raised $1.5bn of new capital shortly after agreeing to pay $5.3bn to settle a civil lawsuit in the US.

The European Energy Exchange is to introduce a German intraday floor futures contract as well as Swiss day and weekend futures contracts.

European Central Counterparty (EuroCCP) is to become the third central counterparty for clearing services on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

ASB Finance and Met Life entered the Swiss market this week despite them having little need for the Swiss currency in their funding programmes.