Jefferies LLC

Varta AG, the German micro-batteries manufacturer spun out of the historic Varta Group in 2002, has joined the small group of European companies braving the choppy waters of the IPO market.

Euro Garages has widened the discount on its £250m term loan ‘C’ to 97.5, with prospects for sterling issuance less clear following a pulled deal last week.

BNP Paribas is hoping to win more business from private equity firms across its product lines, following the appointment of James Seagrave as global head of financial sponsors.

PureGym, the UK’s largest gym operator, has pulled the plug on its £219m London IPO after finding weak demand, in another blow to the autumn equity capital markets pipeline.

The revival of convertible bond issuance by the traditional issuer base of smaller, riskier companies continued at the end of last week with contrasting deals by Ship Finance International and Recipharm.

Winsconsin’s Spectrum Brands, the consumer products conglomerate ended a two day roadshow on Wednesday with the sale of euro notes that will repay dollar bonds, an uncommon transaction in the euro market.

Pure Gym, the UK’s largest gym operator, is proceeding with its £190m IPO on the London Stock Exchange to finance its expansion plans and substantially reduce debt.

Industrial Bank Co has thrown open books for a dual-tranche dollar offering following a series of fixed income investor meetings at the start of the month.

Adienne Pharma & Biotech, the Swiss pharmaceutical company specialising in treatments for orphan diseases, has announced its intention to float on the SIX Swiss Exchange.

Asia’s oldest bourse, the Bombay Stock Exchange, has taken a step closer to its highly anticipated IPO, while IRB Infrastructure Developers is preparing to launch India’s first infrastructure investment trust.

Eurofins Scientific, the French laboratory testing firm, has successfully completed a €296m capital increase, nine months after a similar transaction failed due to a lack of demand.

More than $1.5bn worth of block trades completed within the space of three days this week showed that the summer break in European equity capital markets is well and truly over. The deals included two big Swedish sell-downs by EQT worth more than $500m, and a Sfr539m sale of Straumann Group shares.