Eurozone ‘recovered faster than expected’ says S&P
The eurozone economy has recovered faster than expected from the first wave of COVID-19 but the next stage of the recovery could be more challenging,…
AIB raises €1bn in first green bond by Irish bank
AIB said on Wednesday it has become the first Irish bank to complete a green bond issuance. “The €1bn proceeds from the green bond will…
JPMorgan moves €200bn from UK to Frankfurt
JPMorgan Chase & Co is moving about €200 billion of assets from the UK to Germany as a result of the UK’s exit from the…
Deutsche Bank to close 20% of German branches
Deutsche Bank is planning to close 20% of its branches in Germany, according to a Reuters report. Philipp Gossow, a Deutsche Bank executive who oversees…
France’s Iliad to buy Poland’s Play in €3.5bn deal
French telecoms group Iliad said on Monday it plans to acquire Polish mobile provider Play in a €3.5 billion deal. Iliad, controlled by French tycoon Xavier Niel, said…
Airbus forecasts zero-emission jets by 2035
Airbus on Monday revealed three concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft which it said could enter service by 2035. All three concepts rely…
Sweden’s Ericsson buys Cradlepoint in $1.1bn deal
Sweden’s Ericsson has agreed to buy US-based wireless networking company Cradlepoint in a $1.1 billion cash deal as part of plans to expand its 5G-related…
Euronext in exclusive LSE talks for Borsa Italiana
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) said on Friday it has entered exclusive talks to sell Borsa Italiana — owner of the Milan stock exchange —…
Caixabank buys Bankia in €4.3bn all-share deal
Caixabank has agreed to buy Bankia for €4.3 billion in an all-share deal that creates Spain’s biggest domestic lender and points to long-awaited consolidation in…
ECB gives banks €73 billion relief in ‘profound’ move
The European Central Bank on Thursday gave banks in the euro zone relief worth an estimated €73 billion from a crucial capital requirement in a…
Ireland’s Kingspan in €750m green private placement
Irish insulation maker Kingspan Group said on Wednesday it raised €750 million from a so-called green private placement. A green placement refers to a type…
Volkswagen sells €2bn green bonds amid bids of €11bn
Volkswagen Group said on Wednesday it sold its first green bonds with a volume of €2 billion. The bonds, denominated in euros, have terms of…
Germany’s Sennder acquires Uber’s European freight
German freight startup Sennder said on Wednesday it has acquired Uber’s European freight business in an all-stock transaction. Uber will acquire a minority stake in…
Handelsbanken closes half its branches, cuts 1,000 jobs
Handelsbanken said on Wednesday it will close almost half of its branches in Sweden and cut about 1,000 jobs over the next two years and…
Julius Baer in talks to settle FIFA corruption allegations
Swiss bank Julius Baer said on Wednesday it is in “advanced discussions” with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) about reaching a resolution over allegations…
Sweden’s Klarna valued at $10.6bn in latest funding
Sweden’s “buy now and pay later” payments firm Klarna said on Tuesday it has raised $650 million of equity from investors led by Silver Lake…
EY chairman: we should have caught Wirecard sooner
The global chairman of accounting giant EY has told clients the audit firm regretted not detecting fraud sooner than it did at German payments company…
UBS ‘explores potential merger with Credit Suisse’
The chairmen of UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse Group AG are exploring a potential merger, according to reports by the blog Inside Paradeplatz and…
VW’s Traton ups bid for rest of Navistar to $3.6bn
Volkswagen’s Traton commercial truck unit said on Thursday it increased its offer for all outstanding shares of Illinois-based Navistar International Corporation not already owned by Traton…
Norway’s Equinor sells $1.1bn offshore wind stake to BP
Norway’s Equinor said on Thursday it agreed to sell 50% non-operated interests in the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind offshore wind developments on the US east coast to BP…
Sweden’s EQT buys Idealista property site for €1.3bn
Swedish private equity firm EQT said on Thursday it agreed to acquire Madrid-based online real estate classifieds platform Idealista for a transaction price of €1.3…
Google pulls out of mega Dublin office deal
Alphabet Inc’s Google has walked away from a plan to rent space in Dublin for as many 2,000 workers, abandoning one of the city’s biggest…
Ryanair €850m bond sale attracts €4.4bn orders
Ryanair said on Tuesday it issued a five- year €850 million Eurobond at a fixed coupon of 2.875%. The bond sale was multiple times oversubscribed…
Ireland’s GDP suffers largest quarterly fall on record
Ireland’s GDP fell by 6.1% quarter-on-quarter from April to June this year — the largest quarterly fall on record. However, the GDP decline was not…
Spain’s Caixabank and Bankia in €14bn merger talks
Spanish banks Caixabank and Bankia are in talks about a merger to create the biggest domestic lender in Spain with more than €650 billion in assets….
Euronext’s Oslo Børs grows to 253 companies
The number of companies listed on or traded at Euronext’s Oslo Børs has reached its highest level since the financial crisis. Two new companies were…
Amazon orders 1,800 electric Mercedes-Benz vans
By Mark McSherry Amazon announced it has ordered more than 1,800 electric vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Vans to expand its delivery fleet in Europe this year….
EU trade chief Hogan quits over Ireland Covid row
Ireland’s Phil Hogan resigned as the EU’s Trade Commissioner on Wednesday over allegations that he breached Covid-19 guidelines during a recent 20-day trip to his…
Germany on ‘road to recovery’ as morale improves
The Ifo Institute said on Tuesday that German business morale improved more than expected in August as both manufacturing and services picked up steam. “Sentiment…
Company dividends fell 45% to $83bn in second quarter
European company dividends (ex-UK) fell 45% in the second quarter of 2020 — down by an “astonishing” $66.9 billion to $83.4 billion — according to…
EU in J&J talks for 200m doses of COVID-19 vaccine
The European Commission said on Thursday it concluded exploratory talks with Johnson & Johnson to purchase a potential vaccine against COVID-19. “This is following the…
Bayer buys women’s health firm KaNDy in $875m deal
German drugs and pesticides giant Bayer AG said on Tuesday it will acquire UK-based KaNDy Therapeutics Ltd to expand its drug development pipeline in women’s…
Development banks’ climate finance tops $61bn
Climate financing by seven of the world’s largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) accounted for $61.6 billion in 2019, according to the 2019 Joint Report on…
ECB helps corporate bond sales hit €213bn in Q2
The European Central Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme helped companies raise €213 billion via bond sales in the second quarter of 2020, up from €210…
EU opens probe into Google acquisition of Fitbit
The European Commission said on Tuesday it has opened an in-depth investigation under the EU Merger Regulation to assess the proposed acquisition of Fitbit by…
Eurozone GDP drops 12.1% in second quarter
Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 12.1% in the euro area and declined 11.9% in the EU in the second quarter of 2020 compared with the previous quarter, according…
German GDP fell 10% in second quarter
Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 10.1% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the first quarter, the largest decline since the beginning of…
VW’s Traton signs €3.75bn debut syndicated loan
Volkswagen’s Traton commercial truck unit said on Wednesday it signed its inaugural syndicated revolving credit facility for a total amount of €3.75 billion. “The facility…
Gucci owner Kering sees Q2 revenue fall 43.7%
French luxury goods group Kering said on Tuesday its consolidated revenue in the second quarter fell 43.7% to €2.17 billion on a comparable basis as…
ECB extends ban on bank dividends, buybacks
The European Central Bank (ECB) on Tuesday extended a recommendation to banks in the euro zone not to pay dividends and not to buy back…