The Netherlands

SNS Bank named leads for a euro denominated tier two transaction on Thursday. The trade may be a tough sell, bankers thought, but brought some hope for future capital supply.

A trio of public sector borrowers ventured beyond the 10 year part of the euro curve on Wednesday — but only two were able to return with cash after one Dutch agency appeared to steal another's thunder.

Intertrust, the Dutch corporate and trust services company, has closed the book for its IPO, which is set to raise at least €522m.

Enexis, the Dutch electricity grid operator, issued a €500m bond on Tuesday and achieved a six times oversubscribed book, which syndicate bankers hailed as potentially reinvigorating Europe's corporate bond new issue market.

Nederlandse Gasunie closed a €300m no-grow floater on Friday, attracting an order book of around €550m for the three year notes.

Rabobank Nederland

Dutch trust and corporate services business Intertrust said on Monday that it would raise about €465m from its initial public offering to repay existing debt.

The higher level of new issue premium SSAs have to pay in dollars is set to be showcased this week, after a pair of European borrowers hit screens on Monday with benchmarks in the currency.

Rabobank was a fitting credit to tackle a still uncertain FIG primary market on Monday, pulling in nearly €2bn of orders for a short floater as bankers fretted over further supply.

Altice, the fast-growing French cable telecoms investment group, raised €1.61bn of new capital today (Thursday October 1) with an intraday accelerated bookbuild, to finance its acquisition of Cablevision, the US cable company.

Rabobank has said the German response to total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) rules places senior unsecured debt at risk, and advised against its adoption as a Europe-wide solution.

There is vulnerability to climate change, and then there’s the Netherlands. Two thirds of the country is vulnerable to flooding; about 26% of it is actually below sea level; it is densely populated, and its biggest city, Amsterdam, is right in the firing line; and it is traversed by two of Europe’s great rivers, the Rhine and Meuse, which have been bursting their banks since before there were humans to notice. Short of the Maldives or a handful of Pacific Islands, it’s hard to think of a nation that has more reason to worry about rising sea levels.