UniCredit

The leveraged loan market is set to take in one more issuer from the high yield bond market as French jewellery retailer Thom Europe looks for new term loans to redeem all of its bonds.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

The European Investment Bank this week celebrated the 10th anniversary of its printing of the first ever green bond with the longest dated deal in the format from a supranational or agency — and at double its initial size target. The trade is also a further indication that green bonds can trade tighter in secondary than conventional paper.

Italian debt servicing firm DoBank started bookbuilding on Friday for an IPO of up to €292m in Milan, as an expected increase in troubled loans spurs investor interest in the sector.

Russia’s EuroChem once again appeared to prove on Monday that it can squeeze bond investors for every last basis point and get away with it, but one of the bookrunners ended up owning up to half of the deal.

The European leveraged finance market was disappointed this week when Bain Capital’s and Cinven’s €5.3bn bid for German generic drug firm Stada fell apart.

EuroChem had taken books of $1.2bn by lunchtime on Tuesday after opening books on a four year trade a week after finishing its roadshow. Falling oil prices and a Russia sovereign trade last week meant the issuer decided to wait for a firmer market before launching its deal.

International schools operator Nord Anglia has tightened pricing and accelerated the deadline on its $1.22bn-equivalent euro term loan, while up to six leveraged loans are due to close syndication at the end of the week.

British Telecommunications and Coentreprise de Transport d’Electricité launched triple tranche bond deals on Tuesday, with demand skewed towards the longer tranches.

Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane was the only issuer in the corporate bond market on Thursday. The Italian railway operator's eight year €1bn deal followed a European roadshow last week and took a similar path to other deals this week.

Kepler Cheuvreux has welcomed Swedbank into its European ECM fold as it continues to face off against global investment banks. It has created a model that is tough for others to replicate, writes David Rothnie.

Increasing numbers of commercial banks are investing in seven year Schuldschein loans, as attractive pricing and allocation is luring the lenders further along the credit curve.