Santander

Spain’s Red Eléctrica Corporación has hired banks to run a series of fixed income investor calls for a debut five year senior unsecured deal, in the first European corporate roadshow since stringent social distancing measures were implemented across the continent.

The Bank of England threatened to use its ‘supervisory powers’ on UK banks if they did not agree to suspend dividend distributions this year and stop paying cash bonuses to staff. The instructions do not apply to the equity-like CCDS instruments issued by building societies.

Conor Hennebry has been promoted from head of European debt capital markets and syndicated lending to global DCM head, following the appointment of Rafael Noya as head of global debt finance.

The UK's Imperial Brands, formerly Imperial Tobacco, has signed a new €3.5bn three year multi-currency revolving credit facility, slightly increasing its main bank line, despite not having plans to draw down.

Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, opened books for a three tranche bond issue on Tuesday, just over a week after raising €15bn from banks, on the assumption, its CFO said then, that there would be "no issuance in capital markets, such as commercial paper".

A string of well rated companies are preparing to issue bonds in the coming days, as syndicate desks are heartened by the continued ample demand from investors. Anheuser-Busch InBev, Volkswagen Financial Services and Thermo Fisher Scientific raised a total of €7.85bn in euros today, despite a rocky market.

Rating: A/A-/Baa1

Confectionery company Néstle, soft drink maker Coca-Cola European Partners and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi piled into Europe's bond market with new issues on Tuesday, suggesting that borrowers are increasingly eager and quick to react when the market shows any signs of stabilising.

European banks are steering well clear of new issue markets during the coronavirus pandemic, avoiding having to call on investors for funding by taking advantage of attractive central bank funding schemes.

The Single Resolution Board found this week that investors in Banco Popular would not have been any better off had they been put through an insolvency rather than a resolution. Creditors and shareholders will therefore not receive any compensation.

ING Groep said on Monday that it would redeem a pair of perpetual capital instruments, including an additional tier one bond, after deciding the move would be in its economic interest.

FIG DCM officials say it is impossible to tell when banks could return to selling unsecured debt, with markets locked in a period of extreme volatility and uncertainty.