Italy

Davide Campari-Milano, the unrated Italian drinks company, began a roadshow in London on Thursday for its first euro bond issue in three years.

Italy’s borrowing costs dropped across the curve at an auction on Friday, although its yields at the longer end are still some distance from the euro-era lows hit earlier this year.

Pillarstone, a non-performing loan and advisory company owned by KKR, has appointed John Davison, former head of the strategic investment group at RBS, as its new chief executive.

Mediobanca has appointed Philippe Dufournier as head of lending and structured finance

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.

This week’s encouraging run of equity block trades continues this evening (Wednesday September 9) with a sale of 10% of Inmobiliaria Colonial, the Spanish property company, worth about €190m.

UniCredit Italy became on Monday the first Italian bank to break through the mid-swaps barrier with a covered bond, but it needed to employ its lead managers’ balance sheets to do it.

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

Cariparma Crédit Agricole printed a €1bn June 2023 mortgage-backed bond on Tuesday. The healthy new issue premium offered by the issuer suggests investors are demanding more of a premium following the glut of supply recently.

Citigroup has hired Giacomo Ciampolini, the equity capital markets block trade specialist on Goldman Sachs’s syndicate desk. He will have a dual role as head of Italian ECM and working on accelerated bookbuilds.

UniCredit Italy has become the first Italian bank to break the mid swaps barrier, pricing a €500m five year floating rate deal at three month Euribor +7bp, which equated to 3bp through on a mid swaps basis.

A trio of covered bond issuers offered seven year deals on Monday with Banca Popolare di Milano, Société Générale and Lloyds selling deals from a variety of jurisdictions. While each deal printed with appropriate premiums, the high level of supply has meant that investors were more discerning, resulting in slower bookbuilds.