The number of European corporates needing to restructure is expected to continue to rise during 2026 but not at a noticeably higher rate than in 2025, according to law firm Weil’s latest quarterly assessment of distressed credit.

Wells Fargo said it intends to keep hiring in selected areas of its investment bank and wants to lift returns above 18% in time, fuelled by expense discipline, investment in growth areas and by optimising its capital levels.

Hong Kong-based activist investor and corporate governance evangelist David Webb, whose research and opinion pieces were widely read in the city's banking circles, died on Tuesday from metastatic prostate cancer, according to a statement posted on his X profile. 

UBS has appointed Nigel Howells as its global head of financial institutions group, debt capital markets. Howells will retain his role as head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, FIG DCM and will report to Barry Donlon, global head of DCM. 

Chinese live streaming company Kuaishou Technology is marketing a US dollar five-year bond at initial price guidance of Treasuries plus 85bp area and a US dollar 10-year at initial price guidance of 100bp area. It has also set final guidance on a five-year Dim Sum at 2.45%, inside initial price guidance of 2.95% area. 

France cleared a €10bn 20-year as its still budgetless government faced two no-confidence votes, a sign of how much the market has accepted the new, chaotic normal in Paris and the attractive pricing they are getting from OATs as a result.

Commerzbank and Erste Group Bank found there was plenty of demand to go around with competing Tier 2 trades on Wednesday, in a market bankers described as well balanced, with price sensitivity evident but tight pricing still achievable. 

Benin is poised to become the first issuer from sub-Saharan Africa to raise funds in the US dollar sukuk market in more than a decade, which bankers hope will be a pivotal deal in the expansion of the asset class.

Upcoming changes to the European Union’s Solvency II regime are expected to make the CLO market more attractive to insurers and could support additional demand from asset managers, according to analysts.

The European CMBS market will get off to a quick start as Sirius Logistics 2026-1 UK was unveiled by Bank of America, Standard Chartered and Wells Fargo Securities for pricing in the coming week. Calls with the sponsor, Blackstone's last-mile logistics operator, Mileway, were available on request.

The auto sector led the first wave of asset-backed supply in 2026, amid expectations that issuance from this sector will hit a record on the back of strong consumer-borrowing trends.

Oncourse Home Solutions is reopening the whole business securitisation space in 2026 with a jumbo deal to take advantage of favourable funding conditions.

Turkey is considering issuing a green, social or sustainable bond this year as the country prepares to host the UN-sponsored COP31 climate meeting in November.  

Emirates NBD has priced a US$700m five-year green bond and a US$300m three-year blue bond, which is the first public benchmark blue bond in the Middle East. 

The Port of Rotterdam Authority priced what a major investor said was the first corporate bond with proceeds to be used exclusively for carbon capture and storage. 

Split-rated Benin (B+/B1/BB–) is pulling together a US$500m blended finance package for sustainable public transport that includes the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s first loan in the West African country and also involve the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s concessional lender for the poorest 80 countries.

Shanghai-listed chip designer Montage Technology is planning to open books on Friday for a Hong Kong listing of about US$900m, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Europe’s IPO market opened the year with a bang on Wednesday with the float of defence supplier Czechoslovak Group in Amsterdam in a deal of up to around €4bn.

Liftoff Mobile filed Tuesday afternoon for a Nasdaq IPO that would allow its principal backers to cash out a portion of their investment as well as repay debt, reversing course from earlier plans to sell the business outright.

L3Harris Technologies secured a US$1bn investment from the US government for its missile business in a move to accelerate arms production, making it the latest company to combine forces with the government on operations deemed critical to national defense.

RBC and UBS have underwritten a senior secured loan to back Apollo’s acquisition of French food retailer Prosol Group, sources said.

KKR has received commitment letters from two financial institutions and KKR Capital Markets for debt financing backing its counteroffer to take Japanese cosmetics maker Mandom private.

Medical devices company Becton, Dickinson and Co (BD) has organized US$4bn of unsecured delayed draw term loans to support the spinoff of its biosciences and diagnostics business.