Spain

Spain showed that a 50 year euro benchmark is not just the preserve of core eurozone sovereign issuers on Wednesday and had plenty of leftover demand to suggest that Italy could follow with a half century bond of its own.

Santander Consumer Finance launched its third deal of the year on Wednesday, raising €750m in five year senior funding.

Spain has nipped in ahead of its eurozone periphery peer Italy, mandating banks for a debut 50 year euro benchmark on the same day that the Community of Madrid had a strong showing at the short end and Greek yields rallied across the curve.

FIG syndicate desks were looking forward to a pick-up in primary market activity on Tuesday, after two insurers hit screens and the bank capital pipeline also grew.

The Community of Madrid is preparing its first syndicated bond in a year, as the Republic of Italy considers following the lead of France and Belgium by publically issuing a 50 year bond.

Italy privately issued a long dated inflation linked bond and Spain drew strong demand at an auction of index linked paper this week, as bankers suggested interest could be returning to the asset class as investors bet on a return of inflation in the eurozone.

Spain’s borrowing costs fell on Thursday at the country’s first debt auction since its king dissolved parliament earlier this week.

Spanish car parts maker Gestamp on Wednesday priced a €500m secured bond to redeem all of its old euro notes at first call.

Banco Santander posted a €1.6bn profit for January to March, above market expectations but 5% down from 2015’s first quarter, which the bank blamed on local currencies’ depreciation against the euro.

Rating: Baa1/BB+/-

Thursday was the busiest day of the year so far for euro bank capital, as FIG borrowers betrayed nerves over how long investors’ risk appetite might last.

Bankinter raised €200m of well-flagged additional tier one capital on Thursday, coming good on its promise to soften the financial impact of the bank’s expansion into Portugal.