Europe

UBI Banca, the Italian bank, completed its €400m rights issue on Friday June 30, when the tiny rump of 6.7m rights, not subscribed for during the subscription period, were all sold on the stockmarket in the first few minutes they were offered.

A new Zurich IPO began investor education on Monday, of electric meter maker Landis & Gyr, based in Switzerland. “It’s big,” said a banker on the deal, which may come at about $2.25bn to $2.75bn.

Instituto de Crédito Oficial sold its third social bond on Monday, printing €500m of four year paper with what bankers on the trade said was a skinny new issue premium.

Some European bank liquidity portfolios are ‘materially non-compliant’ with the recommendations of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, because of the inclusion of covered bonds as high quality liquid assets, the BCBS said on Monday.

After a blank day to end June, European corporate bond markets also saw no issuance on the first business day of July. However, market participants do expect the market to be busier in the second half of this week.

The European high yield bond market welcomed a bursting deal pipeline this week, leaving behind last week’s sabre rattling between investors and issuers.

Crédit Agricole took advantage of last week’s sharp rise in swap rates and concerns that covered bond supply may dry up to issue a tightly priced €500m 10 year on Monday.

On Friday, the credit rating agency, DBRS, became the third ratings company to downgrade Nestlé following its announcement of a Sfr20bn ($20.8bn) share buy-back program earlier in the week. It could herald fresh bond issuance, said corporate bond bankers.

The leveraged loan market is set to take in one more issuer from the high yield bond market as French jewellery retailer Thom Europe looks for new term loans to redeem all of its bonds.

Activity in the CEEMEA primary market is likely to be loaded towards the back end of this week, according to bankers, as roadshows end and issuers dodge around macroeconomic events and holidays in the US.

Hungarian haulage firm Waberer’s International priced its Huf22.6bn (€73.1m) IPO today after slashing the amount of secondary shares on account of tepid demand, though the bookrunners said the outcome was favourable in the end.

The relentless growth in active covered bond issuers was in evidence last week as Danske Bank’s Swedish subsidiary received regulatory approval, Santander Consumer Finance AG tested its newly rated programme, and DZ Bank received a rating for its unique Bank Briefe.