Spain

Caixabank issued its largest Cédulas in five years on Monday. It was also the biggest since 2014 and enticed more investors than any Spanish deal in three years.

Spain cut yields but printed at the lower end of its size target at a long end bond auction on Thursday, although bankers are confident that there would be demand if the sovereign chose to bring a long dated syndicated deal.

Spanish real estate firm Merlin Properties does not plan to rush its bond market debut, despite having hired Moody's and Standard & Poor's to provide credit ratings.

Italy is set to benefit from a Bank of Japan-induced rally in eurozone government bonds late last week after mandating for a 30 year benchmark on Monday — and bankers suggest Spain could follow with a similar deal.

Caixabank has become the fourth Spanish bank to tap the covered bond market this year with its largest Cédulas in five years. That four borrowers have launched similar sized deals of around €1.5bn so far this year suggests volatile market conditions are causing banks to frontload their funding.

Last year the Markit iBoxx Euro Banks index was one of the outperforming bond sectors in Europe having returned 1%. The index, which is largely made up of bonds issued by European banks, even managed to outperform defensive sectors such as healthcare and utilities, while Europe’s regulatory oversight and relaxed monetary conditions kept market confidence in check.

Catalonia’s new pro-independence government wants to negotiate with Madrid on the basis that it will take on 11% of the Spanish national debt, GlobalCapital can reveal. That would raise Spain’s debt-to-GDP ratio at a stroke from 99% to 111%, write Victor Jimenez and Craig McGlashan.

Earnings at Santander matched market expectations, but analysts argued that fully provisioning losses on its Abengoa exposures would have taken the bank to a fourth quarter loss.

Established covered bond investors are often sceptical about conditional pass through deals. The structure allows the maturity of their investments to be extended, perhaps by decades. But they could be safer than long dated bullet deals.

Spanish low cost airline Volotea has decided to postpone its initial public offering in Madrid, making it the first ECM victim of this year’s heightened market volatility.

The opening shot for the race to save Abengoa from bankruptcy came on Monday from Alvarez & Marsal, the restructuring firm, and its plan to half the Spanish renewable energy company’s corporate debt to €4bn ­— now the board and creditors must approve the scheme before March 28.

As WTI and Brent crude oil prices slip down below $30, high yield analysts are pointing at Spain’s oil producer Repsol as the first European company that could cross over into the sub-investment grade market.