Intesa Sanpaolo

Kuwait’s Equate bargained hard on the terms of its latest $5bn bridge loan refinancing, bankers said, and the syndicate for the latest loan shrunk as some lenders passed on the deal.

At the height of the Brexit turmoil this week, another issue emerged as an important and perhaps more pressing concern: Italy is in the midst of a banking crisis. If the country cannot come up with a private solution, or convince authorities to bend EU state aid rules, up to €250bn of retail senior debt will be on the hook, writes Tyler Davies.

The IPO of Enav, the Italian air traffic control system, is progressing steadily, despite the shock of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, which has sent share prices whizzing in all directions.

Electricité de France has named 16 banks to underwrite its €4bn rights issue, of which €3bn will be bought by the French government.

Amid the chaos in global markets on June 24, the IPO of Veneto Banca reached its expected conclusion: the book closed almost empty and the listing was cancelled, leaving Fondo Atlante, the Italian bank rescue fund, to provide the €1bn of capital Veneto had to raise.

Corrado Passera is the favoured candidate to become the next chief executive of UniCredit, but the bank’s international investors are on a collision course with its board over the appointment of a successor to Federico Ghizzoni, who stepped down last month.

Enav, the Italian air traffic control system company, began its privatisation IPO on Monday, with the publication of research. Meanwhile, plans are taking shape for the IPO of Avio, the Italian space propulsion firm.

The €1bn IPO and highly dilutive capital increase of Veneto Banca is thought likely by bankers involved to be bought in its entirety by Fondo Atlante, as happened to the similar €1.5bn deal for Banca Popolare di Vicenza at the beginning of May.

Eutelsat, the French satellite operator, managed to issue a €500m no-grow five year bond on Thursday, despite the ever-fraying nerves about Brexit — though it offered a sizeable new issue premium.

Veneto Banca’s IPO bookbuild will begin on June 8, but hopes of it achieving its flotation in Milan are dim. “At the bottom of the price range, there are cheaper Italian banks,” said one banker on the deal, encapsulating the problem.

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala has tightened the margin on its $1.75bn three year refinancing, despite the price on the original loan already being “eye-wateringly low”, according to one banker.

Veneto Banca’s IPO attempt has been set for the latter part of June, but whether it has any better success than Banca Popolare di Verona at finding institutional demand remains in doubt.