UniCredit

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.

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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.

The Republic of Croatia pulled pricing for its €750m 2.7% 2028 bond 30bp tighter than initial price guidance on Wednesday, bringing the reoffer spread nearly flat to the outstanding curve.

The Federal State of Berlin printed a 15 year trade on Wednesday — its first €1bn bond since 2015, according to Dealogic. The trade was joined by a five year from Corporación Andina de Fomento.

The Republic of Croatia released initial price guidance for a 10 year bond on Wednesday morning and books for the deal are already in excess of €1.3bn.

Rentenbank on Tuesday sold what Dealogic data shows is its largest ever euro benchmark, while the State of North Rhine Westphalia visited the long end of the curve.

Carrefour, the French supermarkets group, sold Europe's second corporate bond deal of the week on Tuesday, as the market slowly recovered from the volatility of the previous week. There still remained some nervousness around market conditions, however, so Carrefour had to ensure it offered investors a healthy premium.

A report that UniCredit is considering a merger with Société Générale — which would create a powerful champion in European corporate debt — provoked strong feelings among capital markets specialists on Monday. The story appears to have taken UniCredit’s management by surprise, just after a bruising period for Italy in capital markets. But although some like the idea in principle and others scorn it, none believe a merger at some stage is impossible.

The State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Land NRW) hit screens on Monday to announce a long dated euro benchmark.