Pre-migration untagged articles

Nationwide Building Society this week made a convincing return to the benchmark covered bond market after three years with a Eu1.25bn five year transaction that built on an improvement in sentiment towards the UK.

UBI Banca and Banco Popolare got away covered bond benchmarks amid volatile peripheral markets this week, but demand was moderated by the tight levels at which obbligazioni bancarie garantite have been trading.

Standard & Poor’s placed 53 Spanish multi-cédulas transactions on CreditWatch Negative last Friday (September 3).

Investment manager BlackRock this week launched the iShares Markit iBoxx Euro High Yield fund, the first exchange traded fund to invest in European high yield bonds.

BNP Paribas has restructured its Global Equities and Commodity Derivatives division. Global head of GECD Yann Gérardin and his deputy Oliver Osty announced the new structure on Wednesday.

Aegon Levensverzekering has kept the European securitisation market’s momentum going after the successful placements of mortgage backed bonds by Santander and Storm with the announcement of its latest RMBS this week. Meanwhile VW’s latest auto ABS is set to equal the tightest primary market spreads since the Lehman bankruptcy. Read EuroWeek on Friday to see what else is in store for September.

Five European banks rushed into the senior unsecured market this week, taking advantage of strong market tone while they can. They have printed senior unsecured deals totalling close to Eu5bn, and more is on the way. EuroWeek on Friday talks to issuers about their deals and asks the market how the supply will be digested and how long this borrowing window will last.

Dexia Municipal Agency is exchanging seven outstanding covered bonds for three new, longer dated benchmarks, in the first liability management exercise seen in the covered bond market. Market participants have suggested that the technique could prove useful for other issuers, particularly those trying to avoid a hump in refinancing in the coming years that will come with the redemption of government guaranteed issuance. Read EuroWeek this week for an analysis of Dexia’s exercise.

The Czech Republic has issued its largest ever transaction in euros — a Eu2bn long 10 year priced at mid-swaps plus 105bp, well inside original guidance of 115bp-120bp — and this against a background of widening spreads for the likes of Portugal, Ireland and Greece. A Eu5.3bn book testifies to the popularity of the transaction. Read EuroWeek on Friday for news and views on the success of the Czech trade.

Emerging market banks may be set to play a larger part in the international syndicated loan market as they seek to expand their business, according to a report from the Bank of International Settlements released on Monday. EuroWeek asks whether domestic banks will take a larger role in lending and continue to fill the void left in the market following the financial crisis. To find out more, read EuroWeek this Friday.

Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are underwriting a Eu1.8bn equity capital raising that National Bank of Greece launched on Tuesday evening. The key to the surprise deal — NBG had been expected to ask for less capital and to wait for easier markets — is the Greek lender’s ownership of Turkey’s Finansbank. NBG said that it plans to sell up to 25% of its subsidiary in an Istanbul IPO for Eu1bn which should help raise the visibility of the value of the stake — some bankers think the asset is worth more than NBG’s entire current market capitalisation of Eu5.7bn. Read EuroWeek on Friday for more on the deal, including details of how the issuer got around a Eu670m authorised cap on new share issuance.