Intesa Sanpaolo

On Friday, American data centre owner Digital Realty sold the first green corporate bond in euros of 2019, but investors did not have long to wait for the second one as Italian energy company Enel also chose to issue in the format.

French construction and concessions group Vinci on Friday sold its first corporate bond since announcing it had agreed to acquire a majority shareholding in Gatwick airport. It was the issuer’s second public bond issue in three months after more than five years without one.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bahn sold its first bond of 2019, setting the bar with a €1bn 10 year deal that has a new issue premium of less than the 20bp limit that triple-B rated names had failed to tighten past.

Telecom Italia attracted €4.5bn of orders on Tuesday, which was no mean feat, having to contend with a €4bn four-tranche Orange deal in the market on the same day, but also the uncertainty surrounding the Italian government and its budget hanging over the country’s economy. This, combined with the company’s Ba1/BB+/BBB- ratings, meant it had to offer what research house CreditSights saw as a 90bp premium to its secondary curve for the new 5.25 year deal.

After a run of triple-B rated corporate bond issuance, A-rated names have returned to the market and paid lower premiums than the higher beta issuers had, but 10.75 years remains the longest tenor to date.

Bankers have confirmed that Qatar National Bank has entered the second phase of syndication to refinance an existing €2.25bn facility due for maturity in May 2019.

First it was a pair of car finance issuers. Then came a pair of utilities. And on Tuesday it was a pair of telecoms companies that came to the corporate bond market. But the latest couple really got investors revved up with more than €16.5bn of orders placed.

Russian Copper Co (RCC) has closed a $250m five year credit facility, marking the second refinancing that RCC has secured this year. The tight margin sparked a sliver of optimism in the market.

Equate Group, the Kuwaiti petrochemical producer, has amended and extended its $1.9bn term loan and $1bn revolving credit facility, achieving a reduction in pricing and strong demand from international lenders.

Wells Fargo's head of credit origination for the EMEA region has joined Intesa Sanpaolo’s loan syndicate desk.

The Bank of Italy has said that it is concerned that the introduction of a new minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) could prove troublesome for the business operations of Italian banks, given their limited access to international bond markets.

UniCredit has moved its target date for issuing instruments to meet its total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) requirement from the end of this year to the end of March next year. Meanwhile, chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier is set to invest in the bank’s equity and additional tier one (AT1) notes.