Switzerland

The IPO of Stadler Rail, the Swiss train manufacturer, is already covered after opening the books on its Sfr1.4bn IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange on Monday morning, according to a banker involved in the deal.

Abegg Holding, the Swiss family office for Annina Müller‐Bodmer, gave the market an extremely rare liquidity event on Monday night by selling its entire stake in Huber + Suhner, the Swiss maker of fibre optic cables, for Sfr152m ($153m) following a prolonged share price rally.

Medacta, a manufacturer of orthopaedic devices, was covered within hours of setting the terms on its Swiss IPO, valuing the company at up to Sfr2.08bn.

Stadler Rail, the Swiss train maker, is gearing up for an IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange in April, having filed an intention to float document on Tuesday.

Medacta, the Swiss maker of artificial human joints, has begun a process to list on the SIX Swiss Exchange before Easter. If it succeeds, it would be the first major company to complete an IPO in Europe this year.

Two emerging market borrowers familiar to investors returned to the Swiss franc market this week, injecting some geographical diversity into the sector.

Switzerland’s Roche has agreed to buy US company Spark Therapeutics for around $4.8bn, with analysts predicting minimal impact on the healthcare multinational’s credit metrics thanks to large forecasted free cash flow.

FFP Holdings, the investment vehicle linked with the Peugeot family, has sold its remaining stake in DKSH, a Swiss company that offers outsourcing services to others looking to expand their businesses, especially in Asia.

Barry Callebaut has taken €600m across three tranches in one of the biggest international Schuldschein transactions in the last 12 months. The Belgian-French chocolate company now based in Switzerland had roadshowed for a public benchmark sustainable bond in November, but opted instead for its first Schuldschein deal, as the risks of execution in the public market were too great.

Investors showed strong support for a new subordinated bond from Zurich Insurance at the beginning of the week, though the firm ended up paying only a small premium for the new issue.

Robert Horat, managing director of the Zurich-based Pfandbriefbank schweizerischer Hypothekarinstitute, says he is mystified as to why the pooling model underpinning Swiss Pfandbriefe has not been used as a blueprint for covered bond markets elsewhere in Europe.

Having accounted for the largest share of international issuance in Swiss francs in 2018, Korean borrowers appear to be acquiring a taste for the market again in 2019. Following last week’s sustainability trade for Korea Western Power, Hyundai Capital returned to the market on Tuesday with its first green bond in the currency.