Italy

Italy sold debt with a negative yield for the second day in a row on Wednesday, as it prepares for a sale of longer term bonds amid strong speculation that the European Central Bank will expand quantitative easing in December.

Iren, the newly rated Northern Italian utilities company, sailed through another day of low issuance on Monday, drawing in a €3.4bn order book for its €500m bond.

Banca Imi has hired Alberto Viarengo as head of debt markets.

Poste Italiane, the Italian state-owned post office, priced its initial public offering in Milan on Friday, exactly at the middle of its original price range, to raise €3.058bn.

Poste Italiane, the Italian state-owned post office, looks set to raise €3.058bn in its IPO, which has been completed against an uneasy market backdrop. Final pricing has not yet been announced, but looks highly likely to be €6.75 a share.

Covered bonds issued this week from banks in Italy and Portugal were a roaring success from the sellers’ point of view. But none could have been done without the European Central Bank’s help.

Poste Italiane, the Italian state-owned post office, narrowed on Wednesday the price range of its initial public offering in Milan. The bookbuild is set to close on Thursday.

Unione di Banche Italiane (UBI) and Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) followed Banca Carige with €750m covered bond benchmarks on Tuesday. Like Monday’s deal from Carige, the two transactions were barely subscribed despite generous pricing, and heavily relied on demand from the Eurosystem.

Assicurazioni Generali SpA brought made periphery central on Tuesday, taking advantage of an otherwise empty session to secure strong demand for its tier two paper.

WL BANK AG has mandated leads for an eight year mortgage backed covered bond and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) has mandated leads for its first conditional pass through, a long six year. Both transactions are likely to be priced on Tuesday.

Banca Carige raised €500m of five year covered bond funding on Monday with the rare 100bp spread providing enough juice to tempt some investors into the book, despite its junk rating from Moody’s.

Deezer, the French music streaming service, opened the book for its IPO on Thursday morning, as the autumn’s busy season of flotations continues to produce successes, failures and deals that get done at weakened terms.