UniCredit

Holders of a highly scrutinised UniCredit capital instrument hold a very small proportion of the bank’s equity, according to a source familiar with the matter. This could mean they are more likely to follow the recommendation of activist investor Caius Capital and push for the bank to exchange the notes.

The European leveraged loan market is starting to look a lot like it did in May, with a table full of multi-billion deals and bankers concerned about how much this spike in issuance could play into investors’ hands.

Spanish electricity utility Iberdrola has been one of the leading corporate issuers of green bonds and, on Thursday, it took its total green issuance to more than €7bn with its latest offering.

The Schuldschein market will close the second quarter at a busier pace than it closed the first, as international borrowers begin to return to the market, perhaps spurred by rocky public markets.

It is a mark of how far the market has come from a barren week at the end of May that not just one, but three deals, totalling €2.75bn, were priced on Friday. The European Central Bank meeting and the expectation of a deal from German pharmaceuticals company Bayer played their part in the issuers’ decisions on timing and the order books justified those choices.

Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum has slashed 90bp off the margin of its $5bn reserves-based lending facility, as borrowers continue to heap pressure on lenders over pricing.

Allocations for a €3.025bn acquisition loan from Czech investment fund PPF Group are due in the next few days, according to a lead.

A new proposed European Parliament and Council directive aimed at non-EU lenders and non-bank institutions will cause “significant uncertainty and disruption” to the primary and secondary syndicated loan markets, the Loan Market Association has warned.

A move tighter in credit spreads was led by Italian banks on Monday morning, raising hopes that issuers will find room to navigate ‘tricky’ new issue conditions in the euro market this week.

Rating: Aa1/AA-/AAA

Quantitative easing, perhaps the single most important factor affecting bond prices over the past three years, could be coming to a long awaited end this year. Members of the European Central Bank governing council seemed to hint as much this week, causing govvie spreads to gap wider, writes Lewis McLellan.

Romania has released initial price guidance for a dollar bond offering around a 30bp-40bp pick-up over its outstanding curve, according to a banker away from the deal.