Intesa Sanpaolo

Azzurra Aeroporti, an acquisition vehicle that bought a majority stake in a French airport, made its debut in the bond markets on Tuesday, achieving decent demand despite some dire warnings emerging about the medium term future of industries linked to air travel.

Azzurra Aeroporti, an acquisition vehicle that bought a majority stake in a French airport, made its debut in the bond markets on Tuesday, achieving decent demand despite some dire warnings emerging about the medium term future of industries linked to air travel.

Russian steel producer Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has raised a €600m syndicated loan, as experts say that the continued presence of Russians in the market during the crisis is down to the resilience they were forced to acquire after years of sanctions.

Investindustrial, the European private equity firm, has signed a €600m subscription credit facility linked to environmental, social and governance metrics, as sustainability-conscious finance makes further inroads into the private equity market.

Moncler, the Italian ski jacket maker, has signed a sustainability-linked revolving credit facility for up to €400m, continuing the trend towards more environmentally friendly practices from the infamously wasteful fashion industry.

After UBI Banca said that it would not be taking up Intesa Sanpaolo’s acquisition offer because it was too risky for UBI’s shareholders, Intesa said on Monday that the value of the offer is higher than its target believes.

The Italian arm of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has signed a €6.3bn credit facility with backing from a state agency, months after the embattled car maker signed a multi-billion euro bridging facility.

BBVA is the latest large European bank to have suffered a ratings downgrade during the Covid-19 pandemic, with Fitch having moved the issuer’s debt ratings down by a notch blaming a weaker operating environment in Mexico and Spain.

Investors appeared to be more sensitive of price movements in new issues of covered bonds this week, with valuations in the asset class having returned to within touching distance of their January levels.

BPER Banca said on Monday that it would buy more loans and branches than expected as part of its involvement in a potential tie-up between Intesa Sanpaolo and UBI Banca. The merger process hit a snag last week, but market participants hope that a deal can still be agreed.

Transition bonds were the hot idea of 2019 in green finance circles, appearing to offer a way to expand themed bonds to a much wider range of issuers. But the product has struggled to gain momentum. This week’s deal from Snam, the Italian gas grid company, confirmed that it has an audience, among both issuers and investors.

UniCredit jumped into the euro market to raise senior funding at a pricing level it found much more familiar than recent elevated levels this week, while BPER Banca gave investors their first chance in several months to buy a new issue from a second tier Italian bank.