Capital markets week ahead: European Union, McAfee, Zambia

摘要

ARE EU READY? After months of rumours and delays, the European Union is expected to finally launch the first bond deal this week linked to its new €900bn spending plan. The transaction, which will fund its SURE programme to address job losses from the pandemic, will kick-start a massive scaling up of its previous funding activity that will turn the EU into something of a bond-market titan. Member countries have already requested €87bn from the SURE programme, meaning the EU may well have to ramp up its issuance fairly quickly. Indications are that it may seek to kick off with a bang and go big. A request sent to banks earlier this month asked for a large size trade split across 10 and 20-year tenors. VIRUS CHECK McAfee returns to public markets on Wednesday with an IPO that looks set to raise more than US$800m. The cyber security firm first listed in 1999, before being bought by Intel in 2011. Four years ago, it was spun off into a joint venture with private equity firm TPG Capital. Proceeds from the listing will go to paying off some of the debt taken on as part of that deal.