Spain

CriteriaCaixa Holding, the unlisted holding company, sold another slice of CaixaBank in a €315m block trade on Tuesday night that took it a step closer to its long term goal of holding just 40% of the Barcelona-based lender.

Spain’s construction sector has been a sore point in the high yield market this year, with three of its big hitters either in distress, debt restructuring or increasingly surrounded by accounting disputes and corruption. Investor adviser CreditSights this week said major shareholder families behind those companies bear some responsibility.

Deutsche Bank’s Spanish subsidiary kept its commitment to issue around €2bn of Cédulas a year and on Wednesday launched a well-oversubscribed €1bn five year, even though the cost was much higher than the European Central Bank’s Targeted Long Term Refinancing Operation.

Deutsche Bank’s Spanish subsidiary kept its commitment to issue around €2bn Cédulas per annum and on Wednesday issued a well-oversubscribed €1bn five year, even though the cost was much higher than the European Central Bank’s Term Long Term Refinancing Operation.

Volume figures released by major derivative exchanges for November show a marked rise over October's numbers, with some exchanges reporting record volume days in the aftermath of the US election.

Santander has hired Andrew Clayton to lead its UK leveraged finance division and grow its business in the mid-size corporate market.

The busy equity block trade action, widely predicted by ECM bankers when the US presidential election produced a bounce in share prices, has continued this week with a string of sales totalling over $1.5bn.

Mercado Español de Futuros Financieros, the Spanish futures exchange, is to start trading derivatives on wind energy.

Shareholders of Abengoa on Tuesday endorsed a landmark debt restructuring for the renewable energy company — and averted the largest corporate bankruptcy in Spain’s modern history.

Shares in Banco Sabadell, the Spanish banking group, fell 6% on Tuesday morning after Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski sold part of his stake for €202m through an accelerated bookbuild led by Deutsche Bank.

Spanish construction firm Obrascón Huarte Lain failed to calm investors' anxiety on Thursday, after the company suffered its third Moody’s rating downgrade since March.

Caja Rural Navarra pushed ahead with its seven year Cédulas Hipotecarias backed by environmental and social governance assets on Wednesday, even though it knew the market was likely to be unreceptive.