UBS

ANZ New Zealand this week became the latest in a slew of Antipodean financial institutions to print Swiss franc denominated debt.

The arid landscape for equity block trades so far this year in EMEA was brightened on Wednesday by two evening sales, both with a Russian flavour and involving elite clients.

Attractive spreads have improved sentiment considerably in the covered bond market, but senior issuance remains elusive as cautious banks deal with gloomy data.

Alliance Automotive, the Blackstone-owned French car parts supplier, this week tapped its 2021 notes for €70m as the European high yield market tries to regain momentum after a poor January.

Argentina’s government reopened negotiations with holdout creditors on Monday after securing a $5bn loan from seven global banks last week.

A UBS debt buyback weighed on results for the fourth quarter last year, with the Swiss bank reporting profit of just Sfr234m. UBS preferred to highlight the “adjusted” figure of Sfr754m profit, which strips out the tender cost of Sfr257m, and restructuring charges, including Sfr143m in the investment bank.

Lippo Karawaci has completed an early exchange offer to repurchase its outstanding notes as part of a debt management exercise. The result shows that the firm has come close to what it was expected to raise with the bond swap.

AIB Mortgage Bank attracted robust demand for its €1bn seven year covered bond issued on Thursday, and WL Bank also did well despite the difficult 10 year tenor and measly spread.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) funded itself more cheaply with a 15 year covered bond than it did with a five year this week. It followed Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC) which issued at the same spread as earlier deals despite a market widening.

UBS has asked Markit to administer and calculate its investible indices, as the bank looks to meet Europe’s regulatory push to improve transparency and oversight of industry benchmarks.

China Railway Rolling Stock Corp hit the equity-linked market this week for $600m, becoming only the second firm to print an H-share CB in Asia since 2007. The deal, which follows a similar issue from a Chinese peer earlier this month, has set in motion the transition from a rare deal type into a regular funding option.

UBS has asked Markit to administer and calculate its investible indices, as the bank looks to meet Europe’s regulatory push to improve transparency and oversight of industry benchmarks.