Spain

Spain has mandated for its first deal of the year, but the sovereign has taken the rare step of bringing a syndication in the same week as it is holding auctions.

Abengoa Yield, the yieldco spun off by Abengoa, the troubled Spanish renewable energy company, has changed its name to Atlantica Yield, and appointed a new chief financial officer, in a bid to dissociate itself from its parent, which has three months left to avoid bankruptcy.

BBVA, BFCM and BPCE met with strong investor demand for euro senior unsecured deals on Monday, as peripheral and longer dated debt proved no deterrent to buyers.

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, the Spanish construction company, is still waiting for the Spanish financial regulator to approve its securities note for its rights issue, approved by the board on December 17.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association this week published an initial list of 35 bonds to be considered as deliverables in the forthcoming Abengoa credit event auction, which will settle 2014 credit default swaps, but not updated 2003 transactions.

Abengoa, the Spanish construction and renewable energy group that is in pre-insolvency proceedings, signed a €106m loan on December 24 to pay employees' December wages, but will need more cash this month to avoid a full insolvency filing.

Eurozone quantitative easing may benefit new high yield issuance less than it will help other primary debt markets, Standard & Poor’s said in its European corporate credit outlook for 2016 on Monday. Nevertheless, market participants remain hopeful.

The Spanish treasury has named Danske Bank as a primary dealer for its government debt from January 1.

Stocks in Madrid tumbled on Monday, after Sunday’s election left the country without a clear prospect of a stable government. Yet one of the best performing shares was Fomento de Construcción y Contratas, the construction company, which maintained nearly all its gain after last Thursday’s news of a €709.5m rights issue.

Abengoa, the engineering and renewable energy firm, woke up on Monday up to two lawsuits from share and bond holders in Spain, while lenders agreed to inject €100m so the company could meet December’s payroll.

Spanish government bonds sold off on Monday as the country enters a period of political uncertainty following Sunday’s election.

A lack of trading activity on Monday shielded Spanish FIG spreads from the worst effects of an inconclusive general election result, but the riskiest paper took a hit.