Europe

French agency Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations finished its 2020 syndicated funding programme with a visit to the Swiss market this week, printing an extremely tight deal through the high quality domestic covered bond curve.

The euro SSA market was dominated by French issuers this week, with borrowers working swiftly to finish off their enlarged 2020 funding programmes once the EU had cleared the decks.

Italy held a series of investor calls on Thursday in preparation for a trip to the dollar bond market. Italy returned to the currency last year after almost a decade away, and announced that it intends to access the market every year.

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OP Mortgage Bank issued a rare Finnish covered bond on Thursday, pricing the deal flat to where German issuers would have been expected to come, with the sizeable €1.25bn 10 year offering and an alluring pick-up to the issuer’s highly squeezed curve.

İşbank, Turkey's largest private bank by assets, has raised a dual tranche syndicated loan, with margins that were priced "fairly" considering the country's credit risk and general market conditions, according to bankers.

Société Générale was set to launch a popular additional tier one deal in the dollar market on Thursday, as investors spied an opportunity to gain a little pick-up over other French bank credits.

Despite lower yields and some price sensitivity, Bawag found solid demand for its 15 year Pfandbrief, which was issued on Thursday flat to the curve.

One of the European Central Bank's outright aims is to suppress government bond yields, ECB president Christine Lagarde hinted in a keynote speech on Wednesday.

The European Union is planning a swift return to the capital markets next week, sending a group of banks a request for proposals on Thursday for a new 15 year syndicated social bond under its Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) funding programme.

Rolls-Royce, the UK aerospace company, completed its rights issue on Thursday, with the cash call proving to be a resounding success. The deal benefited from a late boost on Monday, when US drug company Pfizer said it had enjoyed successful late-stage trials for a Covid-19 vaccine, giving investors hope that Rolls-Royce engines would be powering more planes into the sky sooner than expected.

The Russian Federation and the Republic of Hungary brought euro-denominated trades on Thursday, taking the opportunity to get funding done during good conditions in the run-up to the US Thanksgiving holiday, after which liquidity is expected to dry up.