Italy

Mediobanca was greeted with €4bn of demand for its debut offering of non-preferred senior notes on Thursday, extending a run of Italian bond deals in the euro market this week.

Italy and Belgium were the latest eurozone sovereigns to build their largest ever order books for syndicated bonds on Wednesday, with the former coming close to breaking the record demand from a eurozone issuer set by Spain on Tuesday.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was more than two times subscribed for a €400m tier two on Wednesday, as the state-backed Italian lender used strong market conditions to finally complete the last leg of its capital raising plan.

Spain and Cyprus attracted strong demand for their syndicated bonds on Tuesday, with the former receiving the largest ever order book for a public sector euro benchmark. Italy and Belgium will add to the eurozone sovereign supply on Wednesday after mandating leads for new 30 and 10 year trades, respectively.

The only thing missing from a stellar start to 2020 is a capital transaction from Italy’s Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Banco BPM did not need to pay a new issue premium to follow UBI Banca with the sale of an additional tier one (AT1) on Tuesday, as Italian banks make the most of an 'issuer's market' at the beginning of 2020.

Italian construction giant Salini Impregilo offered to exchange its 3.75% notes, due in 2021, to new non-call life senior notes, maturing in seven years. The €250m deal is set to be completed by Friday this week with initial price thoughts of 3.875% — indicating that Salini may have lost favour among investors and will have to pay extra to extend maturities.

Unione di Banche Italiane was close to 14 times subscribed for a €400m additional tier one (AT1) in the euro market on Monday, as it capitalised on expectations of scarce supply in the asset class. The debut deal means the bank will become the fourth Italian issuer of AT1 capital.

Equity capital markets investors jumped at the chance to buy shares in Nexi, the Italian payments company, as it returned with its first transaction since IPO.

Crédit Agricole Italia marketed a dual-tranche bond with eight year and 25 year maturities. A steeper curve helped the longer tranche offer a higher pickup against the shorter bond, but investors still placed hefty orders on both tenors.

Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have both placed Banca del Mezzogiorno-MedioCredito Centrale (MCC) on review for downgrade, after the Italian government confirmed it could use the state-owned bank to help recapitalise the struggling lender Banca Popolare di Bari.

The European Commission is talking with Italy about its proposed rescue of the troubled lender Banca Popolare di Bari, after the country passed a decree law this week spelling out plans for state intervention.