UniCredit

Germany’s Cheplapharm Arzneimittel has signed €780m of loans, with the pharmaceutical company using the funds to refinance debt and fund acquisitions.

Aston Martin, the UK maker of luxury cars, has launched one of the most highly anticipated London IPOs in recent years, having announced its intention to float on Wednesday morning.

The autumn term has definitely begun in Europe’s corporate bond market. BMW and Daimler, which launched deals last week, may have been the scholarship swots who returned extra-early, but this week the whole sweaty gang of issuers is back en masse, and making plenty of noise.

Intesa Sanpaolo issued a €1bn senior bond on Thursday as it looked to get ahead of other banks, while its main competitor, UniCredit, considers doing more this year.

Russia’s Mechel has signed a $1bn-equivalent loan facility, as the metals and mining group pushes ahead with plans to restructure its debt portfolio by the end of 2018.

Banks with major exposures to Turkey were getting hammered after a loss of financial market confidence pushed the country towards a crisis at the beginning of the week. But analysts suggest that any fears of contagion into the European banking sector are overdone.

Turkey’s self-inflicted problems have had ramifications well beyond its borders and led to comparisons with previous emerging market crises.

The currency crisis in Turkey has prompted analysts to hone in on the balance sheets of European banks, as they look for the first signs of an increase in income volatility following the introduction of the new IFRS 9 accounting standard.

UniCredit’s senior management team had to fend off a barrage of questions about the bank’s exposure to Turkish bank Yapi Kredi this week, as yields spiked on Turkish local currency debt and the lira slid further against the dollar. UniCredit’s equity stake is accounted at €2.5bn, but worth less than €1.2bn in today’s market.

The International Finance Corp drew one of the highest BondMarker scores of the year so far with its return to five year dollars after two years away. The trade came in a week of few, but very well received, deals, with the European Stability Mechanism scoring its highest average score of 2018 so far.

UniCredit is seeking €90m from Caius Capital due to the hedge fund’s actions over the past few months in relation to the convertible and subordinated hybrid equity-linked securities (Cashes).

French laboratory testing company Eurofins Scientific and Italian tyre company Pirelli have closed Schuldscheine totalling more than €1bn in the past week.