UniCredit

UniCredit will likely become the first commercial bank to finish a year in the top two arrangers in the Schuldschein market. As the market internationalises, many believe commercial banks are well placed to challenge the Landesbanks’ grip on deal flow.

Gunvor, the Swiss energy and commodities trading company, has signed a $1.68bn revolving credit facility, having increased it during syndication as lenders piled into the transaction.

Nemera, the French maker of drug delivery devices, and UK school operator Cognita are funding their new ownerships in a euro leveraged loan market dominated by acquisition deals.

Rating: Baa3 (positive)/BBB-/BBB- (positive)

French toll road operator APRR had been quiet in 2018 by its own standards, but it sold its first corporate bond deal of the year on Wednesday with a €500m long 11 year trade. It paid a low new issue premium for the deal, but lost a number of orders along the way.

Building materials company Knauf has signed a €4bn-equivalent underwritten debt package to go towards its purchase of US peer USG Corp, as lenders continue to reap the rewards of Germany’s booming M&A market.

UniCredit’s CFO Mirko Bianchi has been on the road to meet North American investors after the bank released its third quarter results. From the end of the month, it expects to be prepared to issue its second ever senior non-preferred bond.

Gazprom on Tuesday sold the first public international bond from Russia since a punitive round of US sanctions was put on the country in April.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary, HVB, did well to issue a €750m seven year Pfandbrief on Tuesday, but with Italian headline risk flaring up again, it may have paid slightly over the odds.

Russian giant Gazprom and Ukrainian oil and gas firm Naftogaz, who have been locking horns in court, both chose Tuesday to release price guidance for new Eurobonds. The Gazprom deal will be the first public international bond from a Russian issuer since the US sanctions that shook the market in April. The Naftogaz bond is its first since 2009.

CEZ, a Czech utility company, came to market for four year euros on Tuesday, returning to the currency for its largest deal since 2013.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary, HVB, has announced plans to issue a seven year euro benchmark Pfandbrief, its first covered bond in over a year. At the same time Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (PBB) plans to issue a dollar benchmark three year Pfandbrief.