Switzerland

Cembra Money Bank, the Swiss financial services company, struck a Sfr277m ($281m) deal to acquire Cashgate on Monday, a Swiss consumer leasing and credit provider, from Aduno Holdings.

Well over Sfr1bn ($1bn) of Pfandbriefe and covered bonds was printed within three days this week, rounding off what bankers say turned out to be a surprisingly good first half of the year for the Swissie market.

Unless the EU extends equivalence status to Swiss exchanges before the end of the week, shares from firms in one of the two jurisdictions will not be able to be traded in the other one. This could cause disruption and market fragmentation, although the exact impact is unknown.

Credit Suisse Switzerland issued its debut covered bond from its newly structured programme on Wednesday, achieving a very solid outcome in a short time frame. And the Swiss franc-denominated covered bond was quickly followed by another from the UK’s Nationwide Building Society.

Credit Suisse has published a base prospectus for its newly set up covered bond programme, suggesting it may be ready to make a formal deal announcement in the next few days.

It may be a quieter summer for bankers on Zurich syndicate desks than many had hoped or expected as the effects of renewed monetary easing in the eurozone knocks back Swiss franc swaps, strengthens the currency and lessens the demand for bonds, said bankers this week.

Financial institutions piled most of this week's debt supply into a busy Monday session, with BPCE, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse and KBC Group all launching senior deals for the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) at the same time. All four lenders came close to fair value for their offerings.

Having been subdued early in the week by Monday’s public holiday and declining swap rates, the Swiss franc market burst into life on Thursday morning when Commerzbank and Credit Suisse opened the books on a new dual-tranche offering for Orange (Baa1/BBB+/BBB+).

Activity in the FIG sector in Swiss francs shifted from the international to the domestic market this week, with a little over Sfr850m ($857m) of new supply priced on Tuesday alone.

Credit Suisse Group made its debut in the Singapore dollar market on Wednesday, finding a significant price advantage for its perpetual tier one bond in the new currency.

It may have been a short week for Swiss franc investors, bookended by public holidays overseas and at home. But that did not stop them responding ravenously to Tuesday’s dual-tranche debut transaction from Kühne + Nagel, the borrower having presented to investors on Monday during a lunch in Zurich and a breakfast in Geneva the following morning.

The Swiss franc market for corporate borrowers sprang back to life this week, with more than Sfr1bn priced within a single session on Wednesday. Even against the backdrop of demonstrable pent-up demand for corporate exposure among investors, Zurich-based bankers said they were pleasantly surprised by how effortlessly the market absorbed this week’s new supply.