Coronavirus

The UK government’s steps to reopen its economy are proving a boon for Whitbread, the parent of Premier Inn and Beefeater Restaurants, which is set to complete a £1bn rights issue on Wednesday.

Spain and SNCF SA announced new euro benchmarks with 20 year maturities on Monday, following the European Investment Bank’s record-breaking effort in the tenor last Friday.

Banks leading the acquisition loan for equipment finance firm Boels have increased the size of the distributed portion of the offering and cut the discount on offer, as a strong market backdrop helps clear the hung bridge backlog from before the onset of the coronavirus.

After the global eruption of the coronavirus pandemic, issuers such as governments, central banks and companies have been prompted to create new strategies to tackle the negative effects. Banks have also recently begun issuing labelled bonds linked ot their Covid responses.

La Banque Postale and Société Générale took advantage of favourable conditions in the financial institutions bond market on Monday to launch non-preferred senior deals in euros and make progress towards completing their 2020 funding plans.

The surprising rise in global stock markets continued last week with a strong rally on Friday after US job figures were better than expected. The resilience of secondary equity markets, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, is a boost for those lining up equity block sales.

The Austrian treasury has shaken up its funding outlook for the year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its new planned issuance total is almost double the previous target.

Hong Kong-listed oil company Hilong Holding pushed back the exchange deadline for its 2020 bonds again on Monday, leaving the issuer with a short window to get the deal wrapped up before the notes mature on June 22.

Hotelier Finance, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based property company New World Development Co, is seeking consent to skip covenant tests until June next year as it deals with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its business.

Bond buyers are showing interest in Peru’s nuevo sol denominated paper amid a sharp increase in EM risk appetite, according to the government’s public treasury director, even as Fitch downgraded the sovereign’s local currency debt rating last week.

The Council of Europe Development Bank is already looking to start funding for 2021 as it approaches the end of its borrowing programme for the current year.

Each week, GlobalCapital journalists share some of the most interesting things they have been reading, from the profound to the quirky. This week has been marked by widespread protests across the US and the wider world, in reaction to an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, dying while a policeman knelt on his neck in Minneapolis.