Europe

Cellnex, the Spanish telecoms infrastructure company, has returned to the equity capital markets with a huge €7bn rights issue to finance its acquisition of French competitor Hivory from Altice and KKR.

Nomura said that net revenues in its investment banking business for the last three months of 2020 were the highest in nine years. Yet while it was a good quarter overall for the firm's wholesale business, revenue fell year on year in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Aareal Bank issued the longest dollar Pfandbrief benchmark from a German issuer since 2016 flat to fair value and in good size on Wednesday. The transaction provided a statement of confidence in the credit, following its recent profit warning.

Companies with high carbon emissions are preparing for the risk that they could have to pay more to access capital markets, if investors and banks retreat from fossil fuel-heavy businesses, and even divest altogether — as Aviva has threatened to do. Some issuers will use investor relations drives and labelled financings, but ultimately they will have to find common ground with investors on how to transition to low carbon.

BayernLB was able to close the books on its debut green bond after only three hours on Wednesday, as investors piled into the tightly priced transaction.

The possibility that former ECB chief Mario Draghi may become the next Italian prime minister has caused excitement among bond market participants and a sharp rally in risky assets.

Throughout these uncertain times, UniCredit is providing a point of reference for the CEE, thanks to our strong commitment to supporting clients and the region.

UniCredit’s Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) division was aware of the threat of Covid-19 early on, and took decisive measures to mitigate its impact.

Dutch biotech firm argenx has tapped equity investors for $1bn (€830.3m) to finance research and development.

UK mortgage lender Perenna has completed its first round of private funding and plans to return for more within the next few months, before originating fixed for life mortgages in the second half of the year. That could lead to the first Danish style covered bond issuance in the UK.

Global equity markets were propelled to new all-time highs at the end of last year when various drug companies announced that they were close to releasing vaccines to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with the vaccine roll-out slow, new mutant variants of the virus raging and governments striking a sombre tone, investors need to prepare for the fact that they may have bought in haste.

Cyprus attracted sold demand when it hit the market for a new five euro benchmark on Tuesday. The trade was priced with a positive yield – a rarity for a eurozone sovereign bond in this part of the curve.