Greece

Nordic high yield bond bankers are making a play to attract more borrowers from elsewhere in Europe, promising them access to local investors familiar with mid-cap borrowers and small deal sizes. This week, SecureLink, a Belgian software security company, listed its first bond on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Alpha Bank has mandated leads for the third publicly syndicated Greek covered bond in three months. But in contrast to the first two deals, it has chosen a longer maturity with a soft bullet structure, instead of a conditional pass through.

The head of one of Europe's highest profile sovereign debt management agencies has returned to the sell side to run his new firm's investment banking business in his home country.

Belgium will issue its first sovereign green bond in the first quarter of 2018. Several countries in southern Europe are investigating the option, but they are less likely to issue in the near future.

Alpha Bank has structured a newly rated covered bond programme in soft bullet format. The move is in contrast to its Greek peers, which have all recently issued from conditional pass through (CPT) programmes.

Greece was able to exchange more than €25bn of old bonds for new assets in an exercise designed to normalise the borrower’s curve. The offer ended on Tuesday, in the midst of discussions about the conditions that will be attached to Greece’s next tranche of emergency loans. The fresh curve should allow the borrower to return to capital markets twice in 2018.

Greece was able to exchange more than €25bn of old bonds for new assets in an exercise designed to normalise the borrower’s curve. The offer ended on Tuesday, in the midst of discussions about the conditions that will be attached to Greece’s next tranche of emergency loans.

A €30bn debt exchange by Greece’s Public Debt Management Agency began on Wednesday and should help the sovereign boost the liquidity in the long end of its curve, said SSA bankers. But some warned that liquidity cuts two ways, meaning the sovereign’s levels could be more sensitive to any bad news that comes its way — although those working on the deal feel the upside far outweighs that risk, writes Craig McGlashan.

Greece has fired the starting gun on its latest debt rehabilitation effort, after launching a roughly €30bn exchange offer for 20 bonds it issued as part of its restructuring in 2012.

CVC and Ardian charged up the leveraged loan deal pipeline with new buyouts of European businesses in Ireland, Greece and Spain this week. A strengthening European economy is likely to attract more, said market participants.

The European high yield bond pipeline was stuffed with an array of mainly sub-benchmark deals this week, after issuance volume hit a historic high.

Anastasios Ioannidis, general manager of global markets at Eurobank Ergasias’ treasury, speaks to GlobalCapital about his bank’s covered bond, the bank’s competitive advantages, plans for non-performing loan sales and how sustained growth can cure Greece’s debt mountain.