Europe

CriteriaCaixa Holding, the unlisted holding company, sold another slice of CaixaBank in a €315m block trade on Tuesday night that took it a step closer to its long term goal of holding just 40% of the Barcelona-based lender.

While UniCredit’s CEO has rallied his troops round a simple vision that should be easy to execute, the success of the corporate and investment bank will come down to greater collaboration across countries and divisions, writes David Rothnie.

NMC Health, the London-listed company that claims to be the leading private sector healthcare operator in the United Arab Emirates, raised £255.4m on Wednesday in an intraday equity bookbuild.

Intercontinental Exchange has obtained approval from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for its ICE Clear US business to be recognised as a third country central counterparty under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

Eurex has decided to introduce a number of changes in 2017 to MSCI indices and related futures, after consulting with users for the exchange’s November review.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank has become the third European SSA to sell sterling this week, tapping a three year line for its second deal in the currency this year.

US politics are the biggest potential threat to market stability in 2017, outstripping concerns over a series of European presidential and general elections, according to Philippe Noël, head of capital markets at Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale. Noël made the comment as the French agency outlined its funding plans for 2017.

The Irish National Treasury Management Agency has set a higher funding target for 2017 than its 2016 figure, according to a funding statement released on Wednesday.

Bridgepoint launched a dividend recapitalisation term loan of its restaurant firm the Azzurri Group with a lender call on Thursday afternoon, the private equity firm's second since October.

Investors plugged another €3.5bn into the second ever senior non-preferred bond from Société Générale this week, in an early sign the market will be able to digest the large quantities expected from French banks next year.

Corporate investors have taken some significant political shocks in their stride this year but Christian Savvides, co-head of European debt advisory at Rothschild Global Advisory, warned the ride might be bumpier in 2017.

The public sector market is awaiting the final big event of 2016 in the shape of the US Federal Reserve’s rate decision later on Wednesday. But while a US rate rise looks all but a certainty, some funding officials are anxious about the potential for volatility in the dollar market next year from a different source — politics.