Europe

BBVA returned to the covered bond market for its first deal since November 2015, pricing a well oversubscribed €1.25bn seven year with barely any new issue concession and a long way through the Kingdom of Spain’s spread. The transaction followed one from Toronto Dominion, which on Monday became the first Canadian bank to issue in the US dollar covered bond market this year.

All but one of the banks that underwrote Saipem’s €3.5bn rights issue, and were left holding €427m of the Italian oil and gas engineering group’s stock, are selling down their stakes tonight.

Core eurozone issuers are set to pepper the euro curve over the next two days, before all attention turns to a much anticipated European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.

The Bank of England has printed $2bn of three year paper from a heavily oversubscribed book, as fears of a UK exit from the European Union showed no impact on the central bank’s bonds.

Senvion, the German wind turbine maker, has set the price range for its Frankfurt initial public offering at a level that implies a heavy discount to its main listed peers.

Public sector borrowers from the eurozone periphery are preparing a flurry of issuance in the next few days, with one still smarting from a change to its rating outlook late last week.

Metro Bank, the UK challenger bank, started trading on the London Stock Exchange on Monday morning, having raised £400m privately rather than from a public offering of shares.

A funding veteran at a European agency has swapped jobs with a person from the issuer’s treasury team.

Spain’s troubled renewable energy multinational Abengoa told GlobalCapital on Monday it could announce a joint plan with creditors to avoid bankruptcy as soon as this week ­— some 15 days before its March 28 deadline.

Capital & Regional, the UK real estate investment trust (REIT), looks set to refinance its £380m credit facility later this year.

UK metering services company, Smart Metering Systems (SMS) has signed a £150m club loan and increased the deal size to take advantage of a government scheme to boost smart meter installation.

Four banks from four jurisdictions got the FIG market off to a frantic start on Monday, and bankers think many more borrowers could hit screens before the European Central Bank meets on Thursday.