Spain

Adif Alta Velocidad, the Spanish state high speed rail network company, received heavy domestic demand for its €600m bond issue on Tuesday, which enabled it to pay a single digit new issue premium, as La Poste had the day before.

Spain kicked off a busy week for the eurozone periphery with a bill sale where the sovereign’s borrowing costs repeated their pattern for much of this year by bumping around 0%.

Bond and equity investors in Abengoa, the Spanish renewable energy company, took heart this week after Standard & Poor’s affirmed its rating after the market close on Friday, September 11.

Italy’s borrowing costs dropped across the curve at an auction on Friday, although its yields at the longer end are still some distance from the euro-era lows hit earlier this year.

Greece’s part in the eurozone sovereign debt crisis has always been secondary to the potential for disaster in larger countries like Spain. Now the latter country could be just months away from breaking up and a huge debt shock. Why does no one care?

The Catalan election on September 27 is barely a blip on most investors' radars. But the result could cause a severe shock to Spain's national debt.

Financial markets have largely ignored the possibility that Catalonia could become independent from Spain. But for the Catalan government, that is no longer a possibility, but a virtual certainty — with huge implications for Spanish debt.

This week’s encouraging run of equity block trades continues this evening (Wednesday September 9) with a sale of 10% of Inmobiliaria Colonial, the Spanish property company, worth about €190m.

The Euromoney Smaller European Companies Index Series currently comprises 1350 companies across 16 European countries.

The Spanish Cédulas outlook is set to improve, not just because the economy is experiencing one of the strongest growth rates in Europe, but also because legislative proposals will bring the market into line with best practice. However, there is still no consensus on how the proposals will be implemented, said panellists at the European Covered Bond Council’s plenary session in Barcelona on Wednesday.

Kutxabank has mandated leads for Spain’s first social covered bond which is expected to be priced next week. This will be the third covered bond with assets that have an environmental or social remit and the second year.

Caja Rural De Castilla-La Mancha, UniCredit Italy and Banca Popolare di Milano named leads for prospective euro covered bond benchmarks. The two Italian deals are likely to emerge next week but the Spanish deal will not follow until after a roadshow.