Italy

In this round-up, S&P Global’s wholly-owned China unit gave its first onshore rating to ICBC Leasing, Italy will strengthen ties with the Mainland through a Panda bond and Bond Connect volumes rise.

FinecoBank was more than nine times subscribed for its first ever sale of an additional tier one instrument on Thursday, despite pricing the deal at a level that was lower than what might have been expected for a similar offering from UniCredit, its former parent.

The Italian benchmark FTSE MIB Index has risen more than 20% this year, buoyed by a rally in euro assets following the European Central Bank’s signal that it may adopt a more dovish stance and resume its bond buying programme. There is hope that this will translate into a strong market for Italian IPOs once the market reopens after the summer.

Italian banks have been in the spotlight recently and Mediobanca on Tuesday was the fifth bank to tap the euro market in the past two weeks, after UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and UBI Banca. It attracted demand of more than three times the deal’s size of €500m.

UniCredit has sold the last of its stake in FinecoBank, its online brokerage business, for €1.1bn. This paves the way for chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier to present a new three year business plan to the markets in December.

Italy has hired banks to tap its 2.8% March 2067 BTPs, as the week's supply of long term euro debt shows little sign of abating.

Italian banks rushed to make use of favourable market conditions this week, with Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and UBI Banca bringing new deals and Fineco Bank lining up an additional tier one (AT1). The window opened after the EU and the Italian government settled their scrap over the latter's budget targets, but market participants fear it won't stay open for long. Daivd Freitas reports.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was selling senior debt in euros on Thursday and UBI Banca was marketing tier two bonds, after the pair came rushing into the market to take advantage of a favourable backdrop for Italian credits.

Fineco Bank is lining up the sale of a €200m additional tier one (AT1) bond after recently becoming independent from UniCredit — a deal that will make it only the fourth Italian issuer to raise capital in the asset class.

Energean Oil and Gas, the Greek exploration company listed on the London Stock Exchange, won strong investor support on Thursday morning for a transaction backing a new M&A deal.

UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo printed €3bn of new debt this week, almost doubling the amount sold by Italian banks this month. Around €6.5bn of bonds have been sold in June, making it the largest amount of Italian bank bonds sold in a single month since early 2014.

UniCredit brushed aside any volatility in the broader Italian capital markets to issue its second senior transaction in as many weeks on Wednesday, getting away without paying a premium to its investors.