Europe

FIG borrowers have wasted little time in bringing opportunistic offerings in front of investors this week, using strong issuance conditions to complete a number of projects ahead of the Easter break.

The European Central Bank has found ailing Italian duo Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca eligible for ‘precautionary recapitalisations’, shedding further light on the necessary requirements to access public funds and causing a surge in the value of the banks’ senior bonds.

A successful conclusion to the pre-Easter season of initial public offerings in Europe is in sight, as Dino Polska, the Polish supermarket chain, has priced the largest Warsaw IPO for two years and three more deals are closing on Wednesday.

ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas investment arm of Indian state-owned ONGC, has selected three banks for a $500m term loan to replace a bridge from last year. The oil firm is also raising funds in yen, and has picked two Japanese lenders for the financing, said a source.

Fears of Marine Le Pen winning this year’s French presidential election may have receded but investors should be hoping that her loss will be to frontrunner Emmanuel Macron — and not to former favourite François Fillon.

European policymakers are now waking up to the need for a European solution to non-performing loans, prompted by a push from the European Banking Authority to create a European-wide state-backed asset management company. But the right time for this solution was half a decade ago.

Public sector borrowers are lining up a three pronged attack on Wednesday in a dollar market that is enjoying its widest swap spreads of the year. Quebec is attempting the first 10 year dollar benchmark since the first week of the year, KfW is out in fives — a part of the curve that has also become attractive in euros — and the Inter-American Development Bank is coming at the short end.

Shares in ACS Group, the Spanish civil engineering company, closed 1% lower on Tuesday after Iberostar Hotels & Resorts, the Palma-based hotel chain, sold its entire 5.61% stake in a block trade, for €554.4m.

Delegates attending the 10th annual IMN covered bond conference in London on Tuesday were unperturbed by the possible end of the ECB's covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3).

Corporate bond issuers broke into the 12 year part of the curve on Tuesday, after GlobalCapital reported at the start of the week that the maturity point was ripe for transactions.

SR Boligkreditt is set to follow its Scandinavian peers and has mandated leads for its debut Reg S covered bond in dollars.

Investment banks' revenues from leveraged finance in Europe rose 146% to $537m in the first quarter from the first quarter of 2016, as the high yield market surged back into life and loan refinancings were ubiquitous.