Intesa Sanpaolo

Consolidation has been a perennial theme in Italian finance, but the country has little to show for it. This time is different.

Banco Popolare and Banca Popolare di Milano will merge to form Italy’s third largest bank by assets, having been granted permission by the European Central Bank on Wednesday evening. The deal may trigger further consolidation in Italy, and is could be a crucial step towards the modernisation of the country’s fragmented banking sector.

Two equity block trades or rapid sales were completed successfully in Europe on Monday night.

Two block trades have been launched in Europe this evening (Monday March 21), in shares of Iren, the Italian multi-utility group, and IMCD, the Dutch speciality chemicals distribution company. While IMCD has been the subject of three previous block trades, there have been none in Iren, according to Dealogic.

Intesa SanPaolo captured the robust improvement in peripheral market sentiment following the European Central Bank’s meeting last week with its €1.25bn seven year.

GlobalCapital announces the results of its Equity Capital Markets Awards for 2015, following our inaugural ECM Awards Dinner, in London on March 16.

Bulgarian Energy Holding has picked lead banks for its €650m loan, after taking six months and being downgraded during the arranging process.

Two of Italy’s popolari banks have registered to be listed on the Italian stock exchange and, with two others entering advanced merger talks on Tuesday, the country finally looks to be making headway on the banking reforms passed last year.

Coal is about the most basic commodity. It has become deeply unfashionable in recent years, tarred as the worst culprit in global warming. The charge may be true, but the accusations are so vehement partly because promoters of other hydrocarbons — oil, gas, biofuels — want to disguise their own responsibility.

The Russian loan market has brought its first dollar deal of the year with Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) signing a long-awaited $1bn pre-export finance facility. The deal is its first syndicated loan since January 2014 and exceeds the size of any Russian loan of 2015.

By the second day of Saipem’s auction of its unsold rights, all of them had been sold to investors — but with the share price still 3.3% below the subscription price at Thursday's close, the underwriters may yet have to buy up to €427m of stock.

Saipem, the Italian oil and gas engineering group, announced late on Thursday evening an 87.8% take-up for its €3.5bn rights issue, leaving the underwriters potentially on the hook for up to €427m. In a concerning sign, the shares were suspended on Friday after falling 11%, though they have recovered to 6% down.