Italian market reopens as auctions bolster issuance

Primary issuance from peripheral Europe picked up this week following successful Spanish and Italian government bond auctions. Italy, the last market to be reopened, saw its first deal as Intesa Sanpaolo last Friday launched a Eu1bn 10 year OBG. Banco Popolare SC followed on Monday, pricing a Eu700m three year deal. BayernLB, Abbey and, most recently, DexiaMA have also come to market with benchmark transactions this week. And in the non-euro segment, Bank of Montreal launched a $1.5bn five year deal on Tuesday. Read EuroWeek on Friday to find out how primary market activity unfolds this week.