Italy

Insurance companies saw a favourable window of opportunity this week to sell subordinated debt. Assicurazioni Generali, Crédit Agricole Assurances and CCR Re benefited from the supportive backdrop to raise tier two bonds.

Italy's AMCO Asset Management capitalised on strong investor demand to launch a dual tranche deal in senior format on Thursday, attracting a wide range of investors, according to one of the lead managers.

Amco Asset Management is looking to join the list of banks looking to print bonds in the rush to issue before earnings blackouts begin.

Assicurazioni Generali launched a greent tier two capital bond in euros on Monday, confirming the appetite for riskier products across bank capital. The new deal left no premium on the table as the issuer capitalised on demand for green subordinated debt.

After UBI Banca said that it would not be taking up Intesa Sanpaolo’s acquisition offer because it was too risky for UBI’s shareholders, Intesa said on Monday that the value of the offer is higher than its target believes.

Assicurazioni Generali and Uniqa Insurance are each looking at selling tier two capital from their green bond frameworks, using a quieter period in the new issue markets to explore more complicated and multi-faceted transactions.

Lagfin, a vehicle that manages the investments of the billionaire Garavoglia family, has issued a €330m bond exchangeable into iconic Italian drinks maker Campari, as part of a move to shift the historic company’s domicile to the Netherlands.

European banks jumped into the US dollar market this week, with some issuers clocking up huge savings in the currency versus what their home markets could offer.

Generali agreed to take a large stake in fellow Italian insurance company Cattolica this week. The deal includes plans for a €500m capital increase, which takes the pressure off Cattolica to boost its solvency position and means the firm will no longer seek to access the market for restricted tier one debt.

UniCredit opened books on Tuesday for what could be its last capital transaction of the year. The bank favoured the dollar market for its new tier two, having sold a senior transaction in euros only last week.

Recent share price movements imply that a third of the loans under moratoria at Italian banks could end up as unlikely to pay (UTP) exposures, according to analysts at Equita, an investment bank, who expect that the true figure could be closer to 10%.

Bankers close to SIA, the state-owned Italian payments company, say they expect that it is more likely to pursue a merger with fellow Italian payments company Nexi rather than a listing in Milan this year. However, GlobalCapital understands that SIA is still running a dual-track process, meaning hopes of a public sale are not dead yet.