Italy

Brunello Cucinelli, the Italian luxury goods entrepreneur, sold a 6% stake in the fashion brand named after himself through a block trade on Tuesday night, to raise money to spend on charitable projects.

On Wednesday French toll road operator Autoroutes du Sud de la France followed the path its compatriot Orange had taken on Tuesday by issuing a €1bn 12 year new issue. Meanwhile Italian auto finance bank FCA Bank was also in the market with its first benchmark floating rate note.

January’s impressive pipeline of sovereign issuance is starting to unload, as Italy and Portugal hit screens on Tuesday for their first syndications of the year.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s comeback plans show that there is still a big difference between tier two and additional tier one (AT1) bonds, even after the failure of Banco Popular.

Italian electricity supplier Enel sold its second green bond on Tuesday, repeating the timing of its first such offering in 2017, which it also sold in the second week of the year. The latest deal was the same size, but priced tighter and won a larger order book, despite printing with a longer maturity.

Unione di Banche Italiane (UBI Banca) wasted little time in following Crédit Agricole Cariparma with the second Italian Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite of the year. The relatively small sized €500m tranches were just oversubscribed, reflecting the fact they were priced deeply through multiyear treasury bonds (BTPs).

Chinese financial regulators publish fresh rules on the bond market to control leverage, China’s FX reserves grow again to $3.14tr in December, and Bank of China completes a RMB salary payment for Chinese diplomats abroad after the central bank’s call to push for cross-border RMB transactions.

Crédit Agricole Cariparma took advantage of the exceptionally tight spread environment to issue the first 20 year Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite (OBG) on Thursday and completed the final leg of its 2018 funding requirement at a record spread through BTPs.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has picked banks to arrange a new tier two transaction — its first bond offering since being recapitalised by the Italian state in July 2017.

Crédit Agricole Cariparma returned to the market on Thursday to complete the final leg of its 2018 funding requirement, taking advantage of the exceptionally tight spread environment while it still exists.

The visible deal pipeline of the European high yield bond market is expected to end the week empty, but the list of potential new borrowers keeps growing. Speciality paper manufacturer Fedrigoni is the latest.

Italian banks are expected to begin issuing non-preferred senior bonds for the first time, after the country’s parliament approved a package of reforms as part of its latest budget law.