Intesa Sanpaolo

Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has sent off invitations to its annual financing for its cocoa harvest amid concerns it may struggle to repay its previous loan.

Three CEEMEA issuers are embarking on roadshows — the Arab Republic of Egypt, Sharjah Islamic Bank and Kazmunaygaz.

Turk Eximbank has signed a €544m loan, above its launch amount of €300m, to refinance debt and support its business backing exporters.

Carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has amended its existing €6.25bn revolving credit facility to stretch out the maturity to 2023, but loans bankers are concerned about the low volumes of business to look forward to.

French engineering consultancy Altran has set the term on its €750m rights issue to finance its acquisition of US global design and engineering company Aricent.

Intesa Sanpaolo was able to raise €1.25bn of senior funding at the long end of its maturity curve on Monday, despite being the first Italian bank to access the market following the result of the country’s recent general election.

Russian Copper Company has signed a $250m loan with a club of banks to refinance a previous facility.

The issues surrounding Italy’s debt burden refuse to go away, but not all market participants believe that a change of government on Sunday would be able to stall or reverse the country’s recent economic progress.

The case for investing in Italy’s banks is unlikely to be radically altered by the outcome of the country’s general election on Sunday, March 4, according to some FIG bond buyers.

Intesa Sanpaolo has overcome Japanese concerns about Italy to become the first ever Italian bank to sell a Tokyo Pro-Bond.

Intesa Sanpaolo is looking to become the first ever Italian bank to sell a deal in the Tokyo Pro-Bond format, less than two weeks away from a general election in Italy which has made some investors nervous.

Qatar National Bank (QNB) has signed a $3.5bn loan with 21 international banks, with one of those also selling over $2.3bn of MTNs for the issuer, showing that banks’ jitters about supporting Qatari entities in the wake of the dispute between the sultanate and six other Arab states have partly been assuaged. Bianca Boorer and Virginia Furness report.