UniCredit

With the return of stability to the euro public sector market, a new wave of borrowing hit this week. Four core European names brought syndications, some of which were able to access unusual or difficult tenors because of the higher rates on offer.

The euro SSA market is returning to a more aggressive pace of issuance after a slackening in tempo last week. Two borrowers raised a combined €3bn on Wednesday and another pair are set to print on Thursday.

In stark contrast with a mute high yield bond market, leveraged loan investors were expecting more than €5bn of new deals on Monday, including a $725m-equivalent deal from Swedish trade technology provider Itiviti, which includes a triple-C rated second lien.

Leonardo, the Italian defence company, has agreed a €1.8bn five year revolver 25bp cheaper than the facility it is replacing, making it the latest crossover borrower to negotiate better terms for itself in a refinancing.

Slovakia’s largest distribution operator Západoslovenská energetika (ZSE) has named two banks to arrange a new euro deal of a medium maturity.

Veteran UniCredit banker Jan Kupfer, will now head corporate and investment banking in Germany for the firm, following Michael Diederich's move to the role of country chairman and chief executive of UniCredit’s German entity. Diederich’s move was announced by the bank in November.

Siemens has begun the IPO process for the highly anticipated spin-off of its health division, Siemens Healthineers, by releasing its intention to float document.

Deal flow in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is picking up, according to international loan bankers, with more pre-export finance facilities from Russia and some anticipated event driven transactions in the rest of the region.

Bookrunners will start marketing the financing for KKR’s buyout of Unilever’s spread business as soon as next week, with the European high yield bond and the leveraged loan market both braced for supply.

Wabco Europe BVBA, an industrial equipment supplier with headquarters in Brussels, has launched a €200m inaugural Schuldschein. The deal is guaranteed by Wabco Holdings, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Frankfurt IPO of German real estate developer Instone finished on a strong note on Wednesday, despite the company having to bookbuild during an extraordinarily volatile week for equity markets.

Credit Bank of Moscow and Domodedovo Airport (DME) brought the total Eurobond tally of Russian issuers this year to seven this week. Those latest two issuers jumped in shortly after Directive 1 sanction fears were quashed by the US Treasury.