Greece

Frigoglass, the Greek maker of chiller cabinets, has launched a consent solicitation to holders of its €250m senior bond as it tries to restructure its debt through a UK scheme of arrangement.

Athens-listed Motor Oil Hellas Corinth Refineries sold a sub-benchmark size note on Thursday, the second Greek corporate deal in the euro high yield market so far this year.

The Greek Organisation of Football Prognostics (OPAP), the Greek gambling company, launched a sub-benchmark sized bond with a yield range below 4% on Wednesday — the first high yield from Greece this year.

Contagion from Greece’s never ending bailout saga was supposed to be a thing of the past. But the European Financial Stability Facility’s questionable 39 year tranche this week shows country still has the ability to hit the euro market — albeit by the back door this time.

It was a record breaking year for investment grade corporate bond issuance in 2016, both in overall volumes and individual deal sizes. Not only was a diverse base of issuers able to access the euro market, many were also able to do so in size and at attractive prices, in large part due to the ECB and its accommodative policies, with investors comfortable buying multi-tranche jumbo deals from both domestic and US borrowers.

Less than two weeks after agreeing to a programme of debt relief for Greece, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has suspended the measures, blaming proposed pension largesse.

The European Stability Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility’s joint funding requirement for 2017 has been driven up €7bn because of new debt relief measures for Greece.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that Greece needs real debt relief if it is ever to return to stability, nor that European leaders are afraid of providing it ahead of a busy election calendar for next year.

The Greek government’s plan to return to the bond market next year is unlikely to garner much interest from investors unless it pays an inflated price, despite a series of short term debt relief measures agreed this week, said public sector bankers.

The busy equity block trade action in Europe since the US election has continued into its third week, though market participants are beginning to brace for the outcome of the Italian referendum on Sunday.

Maturing deals issued by Washington Mutual and National Bank of Greece show covered bonds doing precisely what they're supposed to — redeem in full and on time.

Hellenic Petroleum on Thursday opened books for a new euro bond to redeem its 8% 2017s, with coupon guidance already some 200bp tighter than the old notes.