Spain

Benchmarks from the Inter-American Development Bank, KfW and Spain have now been scored in GC BondMarker. While two of the deals met with a warm reception from voters, one deal was not so popular.

Predictions that financial institutions would ebb as the mainstay of equity capital markets business after the major post-crisis wave of recapitalisations had been completed have proved premature.

Bankia paid a very slim new issue premium for its debut additional tier one deal on Thursday, as investors showed they were willing to support two tightly priced trades from riskier Spanish banks in two days.

Banco Santander has launched its €7.07bn fully underwritten rights issue to support its acquisition of the failed Banco Popular Español, saying it expects to make a return on investment on the deal of 13% to 14% by 2020.

Santander said on Tuesday that it expected its net profit for the first half of 2017 would be up 24% compared with last year, before considering its recent purchase of Banco Popular.

UBI Banca, the Italian bank, completed its €400m rights issue on Friday June 30, when the tiny rump of 6.7m rights, not subscribed for during the subscription period, were all sold on the stockmarket in the first few minutes they were offered.

Instituto de Crédito Oficial sold its third social bond on Monday, printing €500m of four year paper with what bankers on the trade said was a skinny new issue premium.

Rating: Baa2/BBB+/BBB+

Public sector bankers have backed claims by Greece’s finance minister that the country could return to the capital markets this year “with or without QE”. The fact that another periphery sovereign, Spain, was able to print a stellar trade on Tuesday despite comments by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi sending markets in a tizzy about the possible end of QE further bolstered the statement, bankers added. Craig McGlashan reports.

Spanish lender Unicaja Banco got its €687.5m IPO over the line on Thursday, helped by a strong showing from US funds and rising confidence in European financials.

A €179.4m loan to support Chinese company Aier Eye Hospital Group’s acquisition of Spanish firm Clinica Baviera has entered syndication with three banks at the helm. The deal is another example of Mainland firms’ eagerness to expand overseas, which is in turn giving the country’s lenders with similar ambitions a leg-up as they venture into relatively unexplored markets. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

So far this week, euro corporate bond investors have had to choose between three tranches from an individual issuer. On Wednesday, they had a choice of three issuers, with different ratings and offering different tenors.