Europe

Republic of Poland has opened books on its debut green bond, marketing the deal with a “sensible” a 20bp-25bp premium, according to emerging market bankers.

CEE insurer Eurohold Bulgaria has opened books on a five year Eurobond at low to mid 8%. The unrated issuer is expected to print as early as this week.

Bank of Communications Financial Leasing opened the week with a rare structured finance transaction on Monday, attracting bids for a $300m dual-tranche offering backed by loans that are secured by aircraft assets.

Eight heads of funding and two DCM heads spoke to GlobalCapital about covered bonds and regulatory funding, the impact of the Term Long Term Refinancing Operation, the prospective end to the covered bond purchase programme and likelihood of limited funding windows next year.

As the path to Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s survival looks increasingly uncertain, it is becoming clear there is a tension at the heart of Europe’s new bank recovery and resolution directive (BRRD). Ordinary people, the group the rules were designed to protect, might be the group they hurt the most. If the authorities show flexibility, MPS could yet become a blueprint for compassionate bail-in, writes Tyler Davies.

Uncertainty surrounds the attempt to recapitalise Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, as news media reported today that the European Central Bank had denied its request for an extension of the deadline for it to raise €5bn, until January.

Vladimir Lisin, the Russian billionaire, has sold a 1.5% stake in Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), the Russian steel producer he controls, for $156m, through an accelerated bookbuild launched on Thursday night.

Swedbank followed BNP Paribas in issuing additional tier one debt in dollars this week, as the European banks looked to take advantage of unusually high investor engagement in December.

Shares in Bank of Ireland, the Irish lender, fell 3.7% on Friday after Fairfax Financial Holdings, the Canadian insurer controlled by billionaire Prem Watsa, sold half its remaining stake through a daytime accelerated bookbuild.

UniCredit turned to the equity-linked bond market on Thursday to dispose of its last 7.4% stake in Bank Pekao, after agreeing to sell 32.8% of the Polish lender to insurance company Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń and the Polish Development Fund, for Z10.6bn (€2.4bn).

Daily Mail and General Trust, the UK newspaper publisher and media group, used an equity block trade on Thursday night to give up control of Euromoney Institutional Investor, the business-to-business information group that publishes GlobalCapital.

In this round-up, China saw another sizeable drop to its foreign exchange reserves in November, the Shenzhen Connect saw subdued trading activity in its first four days, and Egypt signed its first currency swap line with China. Plus, a recap of our coverage this week.