Italy

A big step in restoring Italy's banking sector to health was taken successfully this week, when the fifth biggest EMEA equity sale ever raised €13bn for UniCredit.

Ailing Italian duo Veneto Banca and Banca Popolare di Vicenza both sold senior bonds with controversial state guarantees this week. But Veneto’s deal was described as having gone “better than Vicenza’s”.

Companies were able to tighten pricing on euro deals this week, as investors said they expected the corporate market to keep shrugging off the political headline risks in Europe that have prompted widening in some government bonds.

Nomura has hired two bankers into its investment banking division, a new head of investment banking for Italy and a FIG coverage banker.

A trio of eurozone government borrowers are rumoured to be mulling deals in the coming weeks, with conditions at the long end in euros looking stronger than earlier in the year.

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Italy’s Iccrea Banca made its senior return in a very constructive FIG primary market on Tuesday, increasing the size of its short dated bond to satisfy a large and internationally diverse array of orders.

UniCredit announced an €11.8bn loss on Thursday as expected, paving the way for its €13bn rights issue and fifth shot at a transformational rescue. The bank said it had signed agreements preparing for 14,000 redundancies, but away from this carnage, the underlying businesses appeared to stay strong.

Istituto Centrale delle Banche Popolari Italiane (ICBPI) on Thursday sold a payment-in-kind bond to fund its latest acquisitions in the consumer card sector.

UniCredit has named the bankers to fill a series of senior country posts in its financing and advisory business, which covers equity and debt origination, coverage and M&A.

Loan bankers are demanding clarity on the true ownership of the 19.5% stake in Rosneft privatised at the end of last year, as Intesa Sanpaolo prepares to syndicate the €5.2bn loan it has provided to back the deal, write Dan Alderson and Jon Hay.

Shares in UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank, closed 1.7% lower on Thursday after it unveiled the terms for its fully underwritten €13bn recapitalisation late on Wednesday.