Italy
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On Wednesday, Italian supermarket chain, Esselunga, became the first non-utility issuer to sell a benchmark corporate bond since Iliad’s €650m deal on October 5. The company’s debut deal saw one tranche priced at a lower yield than Italian government bonds. -
Italian telecoms firm Wind called on the high yield market on Wednesday, as it planned to refinance most of its debt with a dual currency five tranche offering, deploying 20 bookrunners in the process.
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All four investment grade benchmark corporate bond deals that priced last week were from utilities. On Tuesday, Italian multi-services utility, Iren, and Dutch grid operator, Stedin, took the count to six.
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Finnish property company, Mercada, was a lone issuer in the corporate bond market on Monday. Its €175m five year deal q was printed while issuers that completed roadshows last week paused.
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In a busy week for utility company bonds Iren, the Italian electricity and gas distributor, on Tuesday announced a new benchmark green bond alongside a tender offer for some of its outstanding bonds.
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On Wednesday, A2A became the second Italian utility this week to sell a 10 year new issue. The company achieved the current benchmark low single digit new issue premium for its €300m deal.
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Italy’s banks and politicians are worried about the European Central Bank’s non-performing loan crackdown. They are right to worry — but the answer is bankruptcy reform.
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Italian gas utility Snam repeated the new issue-and-tender strategy it used in 2016 as it printed its third ever 10 year bond on Tuesday. The company was not able to replicate the zero new issue premium it achieved 12 months ago, but did still price at a very tight spread.
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On Tuesday, Iren, the electricity and gas distributor, announced a new benchmark green bond alongside a tender offer for some of its outstanding bonds.
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Banca IFIS became the fourth Italian bank to open books on a new public bond offering this October, with the country’s financial institutions returning to the capital markets ahead of the introduction of non-preferred senior debt in Italy.
