Loans and High Yield

Banks launched the bond leg of a combined €5bn refinancing for alarm company Verisure, which will raise cash for a €1.6bn dividend to shareholder Hellman & Friedman. This payment follows the transfer of the company between two H&F funds at a €14bn valuation.

Austrian paper and packaging firm Mayr-Melnhof Karton, called MM Karton for short, has launched a Schuldscheine, with an initial target of €300m.

Some €700m of CDS contracts referencing Europcar’s debt have been rendered worthless thanks to a technical squeeze in the CDS auction on Wednesday, in a blow for investors who thought they’d hedged their exposure to the troubled car rental firm. The controversial result threatens to reignite debates about whether the CDS market is fit for purpose, ahead of an expected wave of restructurings in the year to come.

Singapore-listed palm oil company First Resources is tapping the loan market for a $150m-equivalent dual-currency deal.

Intermediate Capital Group, the UK alternative asset manager, has hired Philippe Arbour from Palamon Capital Partner to help further develop its Senior Debt Partners strategy.

Specialist private lender Kartesia has appointed a full time head of corporate social responsibility and environmental, social and governance issues.

Autostrade per l’Italia, the Italian motorway group, is marketing a nine year unsecured bond through Morgan Stanley, capitalising on the strong demand demonstrated by TIM’s eight year issue on Monday, which came through fair value on a €3.9bn book.

Beijing Capital Group Co, which marketed a two-tranche deal on Monday, decided to ditch the planned perpetual note and instead price a larger senior tranche for cost reasons.

Vietnam’s Masan Group Corp is inviting lenders to join an up to $250m loan to support an investment into one of its subsidiaries.

Vingroup Joint Stock Co has launched an up to $400m loan to the market.

Practitioners believe 2021 could be the year when sustainable finance finally breaks out of the narrow confines it has inhabited so far and spreads more widely across the economy.

Sabrina Fox has been named chief executive of the European Leveraged Finance Association, following two years as executive adviser during which she rapidly expanded the nascent organisation into a buy-side trade association with 37 member firms.