Europe

Santander opened order books for a perpetual non-call five year additional tier one (PNC5 AT1) on Tuesday and found ready demand, despite mounting anti-EU sentiment in French opinion polls and an early election being called in the UK.

Turkish bond prices were unmoved after the country's president, Recep Erdogan, scraped a narrow victory in Sunday’s constitutional referendum.

Drax Group, the UK energy holding company, has scheduled a roadshow for Wednesday and Thursday for a £500m fixed and floating rate senior secured bond offering, following its acquisition of Opus Energy earlier this year.

Russian fertiliser producer Phosagro will meet investors from Thursday for its first Eurobond since 2013.

Turkish food manufacturer Ülker has closed a $375m loan from 12 banks, marking the first corporate deal since the attempted military coup last year.

A glimpse of the future has arrived with the publication of a report modelling the credit risk banks face from drought. The effect on loan portfolios could be severe — and the research illustrates the new kinds of risk management banks will have to do as the world’s climate becomes more volatile.

A leading London derivatives lawyer last week told an audience of experts that he was confident in the future of credit derivatives, lauding the increasing “objectivity” of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) definitions and the more transparent nature of the market.

UniCredit is seeking investors’ consent to substitute Fitch with Moody’s as credit rater of its conditional pass through covered bond programme. The latter requires an issuer to provide less collateral for a similar rating.

Poland’s largest covered bond issuer and national champion, PKO Bank Hipoteczny, has mandated leads to roadshow a prospective zloty-denominated covered bond benchmark.

Investment bankers serving Europe’s financial institutions are already confident 2017 is going to prove a more fruitful year than 2016, when the fees paid by the sector fell to a 14 year low, writes Jon Hay.

Spanish plasma drug group Grifols wrapped up an all-debt refinancing programme on Wednesday as high yield spreads continued to tighten. But market participants warned that terms can hardly become even more issuer-friendly.

The French presidential election saga has taken another twist, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen’s chances slipping — but those of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from the other extreme of the political spectrum, rising. Asian investors are pulling back from deals until the election hurdle is cleared, say issuers — but the rise of Mélenchon may also provide an earlier than expected relief rally.