United States

Philip Brown and Sanaa Mehra are leading a new unit at Citi, the latest the bank has designed for its sustainable finance business.

Sodexo, the French food service and facilities management firm, saw bumper demand for its €1bn no-grow dual-tranche bond issue on Wednesday, a day after it reported a 30% drop in revenue, and weeks after it shocked the US private placement (PP) market by saying it would repay around $1.6bn of debt early as it could do better in other financing markets.

John Muncey has joined Barclays as vice-chairman of its consumer retail group (CRG) in Europe and the Middle East, while Jamshed Kakalia has been promoted to lead the consumer business in that team.

Lu Zhengyao will remain chairman of Chinese chain Luckin Coffee after a vote to remove him went in his favour.

Barclays appoints levfin and sponsors leaders — Créd Ag gives Goldfischer UK role — BTIG hires Huggins

Takeda Pharmaceutical was the standout issuer as US high grade corporate bond issuance ground to a halt this week, ahead of the July 4 holiday.

Exchangeable bonds are emerging as a key coronavirus tool for corporates — one they can use to monetise stakes in companies they own without having to concede large discounts by selling shares.

US companies sold $19bn of new convertible bonds in June as the rush to tap the market for financing during the Covid-19 global pandemic continued, with little sign of slowing down.

Sir Ronald Cohen, one of the UK’s foremost private equity entrepreneurs, believes the Covid-19 crisis is an opportunity to transform western capitalism into a socially responsible enterprise that values a company’s impact on society as much as its profits. Cohen talks to GlobalCapital about the tremendous challenges facing the global economy, and how it can be transformed for the better.

Equity issuance has surged during the Covid-19 pandemic in both Europe and the US, and one of the sectors that has printed the most stock in the first half of the year is the biopharmaceuticals industry. In the rush for healthcare innovation, banks say they are busy lining up more deals for the second half.

DirectBooks, which plans to bring a new issuance platform for bond markets, has not ruled out the possibility of a partnership with other providers.

The European equity capital markets are bucking wider equity market fears over a second wave of coronavirus infections in the US and bankers hope sentiment will hold even if global equity indices become more volatile.