Santander

Shares in Aena, the Spanish state-owned airport operator, will begin trading tomorrow in Madrid, after their successful pricing today at the very top of an already raised price range.

The Spanish government is set to price its privatisation of Aena, the state airport operator, this evening. The flotation of a 49% stake has attracted strong demand and looks set to be a big win for the government, potentially netting it up to €4.26bn.

Electricity Supply Board, the Irish power company, has amended and extended a €1.44bn loan facility with Intesa Sanpaolo and Santander joining the syndicate for the first time.

Banque PSA Finance, the finance arm of Peugeot and Citroën, has signed a new €700m loan and repaid €7.3bn of facilities as part of its new joint venture with Santander Consumer Finance, which covers the French and UK markets.

London-listed book publisher the Quarto Group has refinanced a $95m four year loan. The deal comprises a revolving credit facility and term loan.

Redes Energeticas Nacionais, the Portuguese electricity and gas transmission operator, extended its bond curve by five years on Thursday with a €300m 10 year issue, getting strong demand as spreads tightened sharply.

Isolux Corsán, the Spanish energy and construction firm, pulled its €600m IPO on January 29, in the first blow to what has been Europe’s strongest ECM region so far this year.

Santander was able to benefit from a strong bid for paper from the eurozone’s periphery this week, drawing a strong order book for a deal through its Santander Consumer Finance Subsidiary — bankers pointed to a more reassuring political situation in Greece as a reason to expect more deals from the region in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Nordea was also able to appeal to investors with the first Scandinavian senior print of 2015.

The rally in government bonds since the European Central Bank announced its sovereign quantitative easing programme at the end of January has restored relative value in core European covered bonds. Though yields remain low, BPCE and Belfius Bank this week issued benchmark deals that enjoyed exceptionally good demand that was boosted by the return of real money rates investors to covered bonds.

Santander is set to sell the first senior unsecured deal from a bank in the periphery since January 12 on Wednesday. The issuer, selling the bonds through its Santander Consumer Finance subsidiary, drew a large order book for the trade, benefiting from improved sentiment on peripheral credits and its own strong fourth quarter results.

Heathrow, London's largest airport, issued a €750m 15 year class A secured bond on Tuesday, extending its euro curve by eight years. Despite the bonds arguably being priced through Heathrow's euro curve, the deal was more than three times oversubscribed.

Banco Santander made €5.82bn attributable profit in 2014, as its gross profits rose in all its nine key markets, for the first time since 2007.