Spain

Rating: Baa1/A/A-

Spain raised €8bn this week with its fourth syndication of the year, demonstrating that in spite of the Next Generation EU’s €20bn debut last week, the euro market still has plenty of depth. Concerns about hedge funds placing enormous orders are starting to recede, said bankers on the deal.

Spain and Portugal are reducing the sizes of their funding programmes for this year, the countries’ respective heads of debt management operations said during appearances on a panel at the Global Borrowers and Bond Investors Forum 2021 on Tuesday.

This week, Spanish refrigerated trucking company Primafrio and Russian goldminer Nordgold postponed their respective IPOs, on the Spanish and London Stock Exchanges in hopes of better market conditions in the future. These delays are just the latest casualties of Europe’s turbulent IPO market.

Spain hit the market on Tuesday morning with a 10 year benchmark, impressing onlooking bankers and benefitting from a stable backdrop. KfW followed up with a tap.

Spain was the only public sector borrower to announce a euro new issue on Monday as it mandated banks for a 10 year syndication.

Banks have set a price range on the listing of Acciona Energia, the Spanish renewable energy company, valuing it at between €8.8bn and €9.8bn. The banks already have some indications of interest within the valuation range and the transaction is coming at a big discount to its main listed peer, but some ECM investors say they are likely to sit the deal out because they believe it to be too expensive at a time the IPO market is challenged.

Criteria Caixa, the holding company which manages the assets of Spain’s La Caixa Banking Foundation, has issued a €200m bond exchangeable into shares in Cellnex, the telecoms towers company.

Spanish lender Bankinter paid a visit to the tier two market for the first time in four years on Tuesday, raising €750m of capital while paying next no new issue premium.

Spain’s Instituto de Crédito Oficial hit the market for its third green bond on Monday, giving its newly updated framework for the product its first airing.

Antonio Cordero Gomez, chief financial officer of Instituto de Crédito Oficial, spoke to GlobalCapital about the need for continued innovation in the world of ESG labelled bonds, and about Ico’s role in fighting the economic consequences of coronavirus.

The Instituto de Crédito Oficial, Spain’s promotional bank, is holding a series of investor meetings to promote a new green bond.