Italy

Special purpose acquisition companies continue to flourish in Italy, with several new vehicles having been launched this year.

Banca Imi is looking to raise €200m of equity capital for a special purpose acquisition company, in partnership with DeA Capital, the alternative asset manager owned by the De Agostini Group.

After a delayed start at the end of last week, Banca Carige’s €500m rights issue is under way. So far it has been a “rollercoaster”, a source close to the deal said, but its promoters are delighted that the Genoese bank has got its money, thanks to the multi-handed underwriting agreement.

Unipol Gruppo was unable to tighten pricing on its new senior unsecured deal on Monday, as financial institutions crowded the market with new transactions ahead of Thanksgiving.

Banca Carige has launched its €560m equity capital raising, after two days of frenetic talks on Thursday and Friday, following the bank’s surpise announcement on Thursday morning that it had been unable to form an underwriting syndicate. Several new investors have agreed to invest in the deal, which will be at 60 new shares for every one held.

Mediobanca took advantage of robust market conditions, the limited funding window left this year and the growing possibility of peripheral rates volatility next year to issue a €750m 12 year covered bond at a considerably lower level than BTPs.

The social bond market — though still nascent — is rapidly gaining momentum. Three public sector issuers made their debuts in the market this week, all of which met with enthusiastic approval from Europe’s community of dedicated socially responsible investors.

Rating: Baa2/BBB/BBB

Banca Carige, the Genoese bank, is struggling to save its recapitalisation plan, after failing on Thursday to launch its expected €560m rights issue, leaving its future in doubt. With several Italian and Spanish banks having collapsed in the past few years, market participants will be watching this latest test of Europe’s systems for dealing with faltering banks, write Jon Hay, Sam Kerr and Tyler Davies.

The De’Longhi family, founders of the Italian maker of coffee machines and kitchen appliances, sold a block of shares in the company on Tuesday night, for the first time since 2012. The shares fell 13% on Wednesday.

Three issuers launched social bonds on the same day on Tuesday, which is likely a first for the SSA market. They raised a combined €1.5bn across five, seven and 10 years, with two of the deals managing to make dramatic moves in pricing thanks to what one banker called "superb conditions".

The European high yield bond pipeline was stuffed with an array of mainly sub-benchmark deals this week, after issuance volume hit a historic high.