Switzerland

Credit Suisse issued a two-part covered bond in Swiss francs on Monday, choosing to limit the deal sizes in order to ensure a tight spread and low yield.

Apollo Global Management has continued to selldown its stake in Watches of Switzerland, the UK luxury watch retailer, following a strong rally in the stock since its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in May 2019.

Credit Suisse took advantage of a ferocious rally in subordinated debt to land its lowest ever coupon for an additional tier one (AT1) in dollars this week. The deal was also the Swiss bank’s debut use of Sofr to hedge interest rate risk on new issuance.

Credit Suisse gave investors an opportunity to buy new additional tier one (AT1) paper in the dollar market on Wednesday, shortly after receiving a credit ratings upgrade from Moody’s.

Onex Corporation, the Canadian private equity company, sold the last of its shares in Swiss packaging company SIG Combibloc on Monday evening, ending the association it has had with the company since it bought it in 2014. The block sold was worth Sfr657m ($725m).

The green bond market is set to grow in Swiss francs, as domestic investors turn towards the product. This week, Swiss Prime Site, a local real estate developer, made use of this demand to sell one of the largest Swissie real estate bonds in over six years.

Mirabaud Asset Management, the investment arm of the Mirabaud Group, has hired a new head of Swiss equities to replace Paul Schibli who is retiring in 2021.

The Swiss Banking Association has asked the country’s financial supervisor to consider setting up a covered bond regulatory framework that would put structured covered bonds on a par with other legally based covered bonds, such as Swiss Pfandbriefe.

French agency Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations finished its 2020 syndicated funding programme with a visit to the Swiss market this week, printing an extremely tight deal through the high quality domestic covered bond curve.

Commodities trading company Glencore Agriculture is making its loan debut in Asia, seeking $300m from the syndication market as a way to establish itself in the region and show its independence from its parent. The thin pricing on offer means only banks keen to build a relationship with the company in the hope of getting ancillary business will jump in, writes Pan Yue.

UBS Group made a rare entry into the euro market on Tuesday, issuing €1.5bn of new senior paper in line with fair value.

Swiss biotechnology company Idorsia has completed its Sfr575m ($629m) at-market rights issue to fund the commercialisation of insomnia drug daridorexant.