Ireland

Pentair, the UK-headquartered maker of fluid and thermal systems, priced a €500m bond in line with initial price thoughts on Monday, after deciding to plough ahead with its funding plans despite a difficult market.

Pentair, the UK-headquartered maker of fluid and thermal systems, priced a €500m bond in line with initial price thoughts on Monday, after deciding to plough ahead with its funding plans despite a difficult market.

Ireland has cut its 15 year borrowing costs at its biggest auction of the tenor this year, as Italy prepares to tempt investors even further out the maturity curve.

The Euromoney Smaller European Companies Index Series currently comprises 1350 companies across 16 European countries.

FBD Holdings, the unrated Irish insurance company, told investors in August it would be exploring the option of a bond offering before Solvency II regulations take effect next year, but Irish news media report the deal has been shelved.

Depfa ACS Bank has only one rating remaining after Standard & Poor’s became the second agency to withdraw its covered bond rating this week. Analysts suggest this could result in forced selling of Depfa’s covered bonds if Moody’s follows suit, but they still believe that the bonds will be paid out in full.

The primary market for peripheral European covered bonds leapt back to life this week after a 12 week hiatus, with investors queuing up to buy a series of deals that emerged in quick succession.

The Central Bank of Ireland has clarified rules governing investments by Ireland-registered UCITS funds that want to invest in China A-shares via the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

Issue rating: B2/B-

The Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive was supposed to be universally good for covered bonds because they are excluded from being bailed in. But on Wednesday and Thursday Moody’s and Fitch took opposing views on Allied Irish Banks due to the implementation of their methodologies that take account of the same new regime.

The outlook for peripheral covered bonds is still positive, and despite the disappointing result achieved by Bank of Ireland on Wednesday, bankers expect further supply.

Bank of Ireland has priced the third covered bond from Ireland this year and, in contrast to BNP Paribas which issued a 10 year deal on Tuesday, it paid a decent 3bp-4bp new issue premium for the seven year offering. Despite that, it was the issuer's least subscribed deal since 2012.