Ireland

Aryzta, the Irish/Swiss bakery, won shareholder approval for its €790m rights issue on Thursday – but only just, as its investors questioned the plan to raise capital.

Ireland this week added its name to the growing list of sovereign green bond issuers, achieving one of its main goals as it diversified its investor base. A debut French agency issuer joined the sovereign on Wednesday, printing its first ever deal — which also came from the first ever Green Euro Medium Term Note programme.

A debut sovereign green bond from Ireland and benchmark from a Spanish agency provided the firmest proof yet that the fiscal stink over Italy’s planned budget deficit has not put investors off other SSAs in the eurozone — even those that until recently were in the same ‘periphery’ bucket as Italy. But bankers are concerned that Italy’s standoff with the European Union has further to run — and that a BTP spread over Bunds of 400bp will be the breaking point.

A pair of debut green bond borrowers made blistering entries to the market on Wednesday. Ireland added its name to the growing list of sovereign green issuers with what on-looking bankers said was a “blowout”, while Société du Grand Paris (SGP) printed at the very top of its size expectations on what was also its debut bond issue of any kind.

Wednesday will be debut day in the green bond market, with Ireland preparing a 12 year inaugural euro benchmark and Société du Grand Paris (SGP) out with a 10 year that will also be its first bond issue of any kind. Both must contend with a market backdrop rife with Italian politics-driven turbulence, although SGP’s deal has so far had what one lead called “one of the strongest starts I’ve seen for a French issuer”.

Bank of Ireland announced plans on Monday for its second senior holding company bond in two months, but unlike its peer Allied Irish Banks it is turning to the dollar market to complete the trade. The mandate was another sign of issuers continuing to believe the market remains open.

Shares in Aryzta, the frozen baked goods company listed in Ireland and Switzerland, surged by as much as 13% on Tuesday morning after it signed an agreement with five international banks to underwrite its €800m rights issue.

Ireland has published a framework for Irish Sovereign Green Bonds and will roadshow in the coming weeks for its first green bond issue, which may be used to fund a wide variety of climate change-related and broader environmental spending.

Ireland’s Dalata Hotel Group is due to acquire the long leasehold interest of a London hotel for £91m, with debt financing the purchase.

Ireland’s Cairn Homes has agreed a €350m debt package from four institutions, with the homebuilder managing to lock in cheaper funding costs than the loans being refinanced.

Rating: Baa3/BBB-/BBB

A flurry of new issuance activity on Wednesday did not prevent Bank of Ireland from pricing its first senior deal from its holding company at a level that was close to the fair value implied by secondary market valuations.