Italy

On Thursday, the European corporate bond markets had two new telecoms deals to consider. Iliad, and unrated French issuer, priced a seven year deal, while Telecom Italia opted for longer.

Italian auto finance bank FCA Bank on Wednesday opted to go for a short maturity for the lowest cost of funding for its latest bond issue. A €800m three year deal achieved just that, pricing with barely any new issue premium.

After three days without a deal, the euro corporate bond market reopened with nearly €2bn of new issuance from three different issuers. The auto finance lender, FCA Bank, issued a three year deal, French electrical equipment manufacturer, Legrand, sold six year bonds, while French toll road operator, Cofiroute offered a 10 year transaction.

Iccrea Banca sold its second euro senior deal of 2017 on Wednesday, with Italian banks piling back into the primary market and eclipsing last year’s issuance volumes.

The buy-side is slowly removing European duration from portfolios in anticipation of the European Central Bank cutting its asset purchase programme, according to an investment director. Meanwhile, new cash flowing into the eurozone periphery is likely to go to Italy over Spain while uncertainty lingers over Catalonia’s future.

Despite the momentum in Europe’s equity capital markets showing little sign of stalling, with a new wave of deals this week across a number of sectors, two of the year’s most high profile IPOs have traded down in the aftermarket.

Italy’s Banca IFIS will look to sell new tier two bonds following a roadshow this week, as Banca Carige plans to become the latest Italian bank to find a solution for its financial difficulties.

The IPO of Pirelli, the Italian tyre company, has been priced at €6.50, the bottom of the revised range, valuing the business at €6.5bn.

Eurex, the derivatives exchange of Deutsche Börse, will start offering BTP options on October 2.

Italian telecoms firm Wind is expected to return to the high yield bond and leveraged loan market to refinance debt in the coming weeks, with two investors expecting the combined volume of financing to be about €10bn.

The €350m IPO of GIMA TT, the tobacco packaging machinery division of IMA, is covered throughout its price range and is expected to be priced near the upper end.

Autostrade per l’Italia, the Italian toll road operator, on Monday printed a €700m 12 year deal to finance a tender offer for up to €650m shorter dated bonds.