Greece

Public sector bankers have backed claims by Greece’s finance minister that the country could return to the capital markets this year “with or without QE”. The fact that another periphery sovereign, Spain, was able to print a stellar trade on Tuesday despite comments by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi sending markets in a tizzy about the possible end of QE further bolstered the statement, bankers added. Craig McGlashan reports.

The drive to get companies to face up to the risk of climate change is gathering momentum. Firms with a combined market capitalisation of about $3.5tr have committed to support the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which published its final report on Thursday.

Greece’s bond yields tumbled to their lowest levels in years after Moody’s upgraded the sovereign last week, and talk of a second market comeback is of the more optimistic kind than just a few months ago. But Greece’s government — which wants to return to bond issuance this year — and its creditors would do well to remember that we’ve been here before. As always, Greece will never enjoy a full market presence without some real debt relief.

News that the International Monetary Fund and eurozone finance ministers were unable to agree on Greek debt relief has sent yields on the beleaguered sovereign’s 10 year debt rocketing upwards.

The Greek government wants to return to the bond markets this year as soon as its latest round of bail-out negotiations ends — something that moved a step forward this week after the country agreed a deal with its creditors on a range of fiscal and structural reforms. But one look at where its outstanding debt is trading should make the government think twice before rushing back to the capital markets.

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.