TOP NEWS IN EUROPEAN FINANCIALS
TOP NEWS
* Talks for Greensill Capital (UK) Ltd. to sell its IT and intellectual property to Apollo Global Management Inc.-backed Athene Holding Ltd. for about $60 million have stalled following a breakdown in discussions with Greensill's key technology supplier Taulia Inc., insiders told Bloomberg News. U.S.-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. is said to have offered to cover $3.8 billion of a $6 billion liquidity facility that will allow Taulia to serve clients on its own, with Italy's UniCredit SpA and Switzerland's UBS Group AG also taking part in the funding, sources told the news agency. The Wall Street Journal also covered this.
* Norwegian Finans Holding ASA's board of directors rejected the takeover bid by Sweden-based Nordax Bank AB (publ), saying the latter's 17.8 billion Norwegian kroner offer "significantly undervalues" the company.
➤ Most European SPACs listed in US in 2020, but trend could change in 2021
A total of eight Europe-based special purpose acquisition companies completed an IPO in 2020, only three of which chose to list on European stock exchanges, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows.
➤ Surge in bond yields strengthens the US dollar, but rally may be short-lived
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has climbed to pre-pandemic levels, but the corresponding U.S. dollar gains may be only temporary if shorter-term yields remain flat.
BANKING
* Credit Suisse Group AG appointed receivers from McGrathNicol in a bid to recover a roughly $140 million bridge loan made to Greensill's Australian holding company Greensill Capital Pty. Ltd., insiders told Reuters.
* HSBC Holdings PLC launched a £15 billion fund that will lend to British small and medium-sized enterprises, City A.M. reported. The new fund seeks to drive growth across the U.K., contrary to the traditional focus on London, the report noted.
* Finland-based Aktia Pankki Oyj agreed to acquire the wealth management operations of Taaleri Oyj for €120 million, of which up to €10 million can be paid with Aktia shares.
* Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo SpA launched a seven-year, €1.25 billion green bond, most dailies including Il Sole 24 Ore reported, noting that the lender received orders for €3.5 billion worth.
* Meanwhile, CaixaBank SA carried out another issuance of green bonds, raising €1 billion. Demand for the Spanish lender's subordinated Tier 2 bonds exceeded by threefold the placed amount, Europa Press wrote.
* Dutch lender ABN AMRO Bank NV is losing its spot in the AEX index following the annual rebalancing of the index by Euronext NV, Het Financieele Dagblad reported. The AEX index is made up of the 25 biggest companies in the Netherlands.
* French investment bank Rothschild & Co. SCA is still looking to acquire small private banks in Europe, with Switzerland, France, the U.K. and Germany as countries of particular interest, Les Echos reported.
* Three former directors of France-based Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations were fined up to €100,000 each for illegally taking part in a free distribution of shares in CDC Entreprises in 2007, Les Echos reported.
* Russia-based JSC Bank DOM.RF will receive a 30 billion ruble capital boost from parent DOM.RF, according to Kommersant.
* Pedro Pinto Coelho stepped down as CEO of BNI - Banco de Negócios Internacional (Europa) SA, a position he held since 2015. The Portuguese bank is still looking for buyers after failing to sell to a Chinese group last year, Economia Online wrote.
* Christiane Laibach, head of DEG - Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of German state development bank KfW, is set to be appointed to KfW's board of directors, according to Handelsblatt. Laibach is also expected to take over the chairmanship of KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, KfW's export financing subsidiary.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* British insurer Legal & General Group PLC reported a 12% year-over-year fall in its 2020 net profit attributable to equity holders to £1.61 billion from £1.83 billion.
* Swedish investment company Bure Equity AB (publ) has established a special purpose acquisition company, ACQ Bure AB (publ), with the aim of raising approximately 3.5 billion kronor by listing the shares of the blank-check company on Nasdaq Stockholm.
* Ireland-based ION Investment Group Ltd. and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Pvt. Ltd. have offered to acquire Italian financial services group Cerved Group SpA for €1.86 billion.
* Bâloise Holding AG logged a full-year 2020 profit attributable to shareholders of CHF434.3 million, compared with CHF694.2 million in the previous year. The Swiss insurer's profit was affected by expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic and a fall in financial net income.
* TP ICAP PLC proposed a dividend of 6 pence per share for 2020, down from 11.9 pence per share in 2019. The British interdealer broker said the reduction is a one-off in order to help fund the acquisition of New York-based financial technology services provider Liquidnet Holdings Inc.
* Italian payments group Nexi SpA obtained the approval of the European Commission for its bid to acquire Danish rival Nets A/S.
* French insurer AXA SA is claiming £631 million from Spain's Banco Santander SA in a dispute over insurance sold in the U.K., Les Echos reported.
POLICY AND REGULATION
* Derville Rowland, director general of financial conduct at the Central Bank of Ireland, told the Oireachtas finance committee that the regulator did not find any suspected criminal activity in its investigation of potential market regulation breaches by stockbroker J & E Davy, The Irish Times reported.
INDUSTRY NEWS
* The Nordic cross-border payments system P27, an initiative of Nordic banks including Danske Bank A/S, Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ) and Nordea Bank Abp, will postpone the introduction of live transactions planned for this year, with CEO Lars Sjögren citing regulatory factors as among the reasons for the delay, Finanswatch.dk reported.
* The Polish Bank Association estimates that local lenders would face 30 billion zlotys to 57 billion zlotys in costs from converting CHF housing loans into zlotys under the proposal of the Financial Supervision Authority, news agency PAP reported. The FSA recently calculated the costs of its proposal at 34.5 billion zlotys.
Deza Mones, Daniel Stephens, Danielle Rossingh, Esben Svendsen, Beata Fojcik, Yael Schrage, Brian McCulloch, Praxilla Trabattoni, Nelson Siqueira contributed to this report.
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