Europe

The European Union felt it paid little over its benchmark curve for a €150m medium term note (MTN) that will finance the last of three disbursements to Tunisia.

Caixa Económica Montepio Geral was able to tighten pricing for a five year conditional passthrough covered bond, issued on Thursday, by an extraordinary 17bp from the initial level, causing rival bankers to question why it had been necessary to start with what was called a preposterously tight 2bp spread range.

Covered bond market participants expressed surprise at the sluggishness of book updates on Credit Mutuel Arkéa’s debut public sector covered bond, issued on Thursday morning. But the deal ended up more than twice subscribed with a great deal of smaller orders and little price sensitivity in the book.

BBVA and DNB Bank were both looking to build towards their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in the euro market on Thursday, eschewing non-preferred senior issuance in favour of the cheaper preferred senior format.

UniCredit’s has chalked up its best quarterly numbers in a decade, its CEO said on Thursday, with the performance of the investment bank lifted by soaring trading revenues. The Italian lender claimed victory on its ‘Transform 2019’ plan, ahead of the launch of a new business strategy early next month.

The State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine is on screens for its first ever tier two bond, angling for a steep price.

UniCredit sold its entire stake in Mediobanca through a €784m block trade on Wednesday night, before announcing its third quarter results on Thursday morning.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB, A2/A-) delivered on its objective of further diversifying its funding profile this week when it returned to the Swiss franc market for the first time since a Sfr100m issue in May 2015, which is set to mature next month.

Investors warmly welcomed the return of Luxembourg to the bond market on Wednesday, allowing the sovereign to bring the spread in by 4bp during pricing. But it still offered a decent concession at the final level, according to bankers away from the deal.

The Swedish Export Credit Corp printed a $1.25bn three year global benchmark bond on Wednesday, tightening the spread to land flat to its curve and aided by a favourable move in swap spreads.

Gewobag, the A2/A+ rated German housing company, has launched the first Schuldschein with Euribor floor set below zero, just months after placing €700m of Schuldscheine into the market.

Norwegian Air Shuttle, the budget airline, has gone back to shareholders for fresh capital for the second time this year, to fund itself into 2020 and beyond, while it tries to shift from a period of aggressive growth to a focus on profitability.