Europe

Shares in Italian football club Juventus FC have started to trade ex-rights this week ahead of its €300m rights issue, which is expected to price before Christmas to give the club more firepower in the January transfer window.

The Association of German Pfandbrief banks (VDP) has criticised a Berlin local government decision to cap rents, which it believes will hit investor confidence and lower construction activity. Despite these concerns, the outlook for Pfandbrief supply is positive and remains underpinned by solid fundamental factors.

Credit spreads suffered a bout of volatility on the back of another set of negative developments for global trade this week, casting a shadow over the positive run that financial institutions have enjoyed in the market recently.

Investors in the financial institutions bond market have not had much chance to invest in UK credit this year, especially in the euro market in light of the political uncertainty in the country. Much of the supply next year will depend on the UK general election results next week.

Equity investors are taking on more risk as 2019 draws to a close but a short sharp spike in volatility that began at the end of last week is giving them cause for concern.

Investors piled into the blocks market on Tuesday night in a rare accelerated trade in Flughafen Zurich AG, the owner and operator of Zurich airport.

European banks are waiting for relief from central bankers, politicians and regulators. But UniCredit is positioning itself to offset several of the biggest problems facing the sector, giving it greater room to forge its own destiny.

The European Central Bank (ECB) likes to keep up the idea that it dips in and out of markets judiciously with its quantitative easing programme. This is disingenuous. Its driving force is its need to pump money into the system.

CVC-backed financial technology firm Sisal Pay is marketing a €530m issue of senior floating-rate notes to finance a merger with Intesa Sanpaolo-owned Banca 5’s payments business. The new venture is aiming to be the next Nexi, another Italian fintech star that listed recently and has had success in the high yield bond market too.

The Kingdom of Norway has sold a chunk of its stake in Entra, the Norwegian real estate development company, via an accelerated bookbuild that attracted more than 200 orders, according to a source close to the transaction.

Swiss Pfandbriefbank issued a Sfr1.1bn (€1bn) three part deal on Monday which was notable for both its size and the tight spread achieved.

Ageas sold a restricted tier one (RT1) bond this week in an effort to replace some of its grandfathered securities. The insurer secured tight pricing, bolstered by about €5bn of orders.