BBVA

DCM officials were encouraged to see investors piling into new non-preferred senior bank bonds on Tuesday, as BBVA, Crédit Agricole and Credit Suisse combined to reopen the market. Borrowers have been willing to offer extra spread to investors at the initial price thoughts stage.

Covered bonds performed well in 2019, but yields finished in negative territory and spreads ended at their tightest for the year. The implication is that, despite higher than expected ECB covered bond purchases and a renewal of its ultra-cheap TLTRO facility, investors will struggle to match 2019’s returns in 2020, writes Bill Thornhill.

European banks no longer really have to think about building up layers of additional tier one debt. All of the focus has shifted to managing and refreshing this capital layer, and taking full advantage of a ferocious hunt for yield. Tyler Davies reports

Spain’s Beachbox Hotelco has signed a €55m green project finance loan, amid increasing calls from some parts of the market for regulators and governments to do more to cover banks’ costs in sustainability lending.

Groupe BPCE and BNP Paribas issued green bonds this week, attracting strong levels of demand for such a late stage in the year.

Merlin Properties, the Spanish real estate investment trust, launched on Wednesday a €500m no-grow 15 year benchmark bond, rated Baa2/BBB, with a positive outlook from S&P Global.

Spain’s FCC Servicios Medio Ambiente and Deutsche Telekom raised euro bonds on Wednesday, in what corporate bond bankers reckoned was the last clear issuance window of the year.

Intesa Sanpaolo and BNP Paribas hurried to make use of strong market conditions this week, building blowout order books for a pair of new senior deals in socially responsible formats.

The euro corporate bond new issue market was full of smaller deals on Tuesday, for Japan Tobacco, Hitachi and Naturgy, but investors were preparing for the onslaught of jumbo transactions which they knew were coming on Wednesday and Thursday.

Three companies piled into the euro bond market on Monday, but the deals drew mixed reactions. Two standard investment grade issues from LafargeHolcim and Ford Motor Credit appeared to fare better than a rare green hybrid from Citycon paying a juicy yield.

BBVA and DNB Bank were both looking to build towards their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in the euro market on Thursday, eschewing non-preferred senior issuance in favour of the cheaper preferred senior format.

The first tier two from Spain’s Unicaja Banco was more than three times subscribed this week after it entered a strong new issue market. It appeared alongside ING, which paid a slim 5bp premium to print a deal in the same asset class.