UniCredit

Italian corporate issuers have dominated bond issuance in recent weeks but Wednesday brought a pair from Iberia, as two energy suppliers took advantage of the market's hot conditions.

German car manufacturer Daimler has proven a good medium to track the tightening of euro corporate bond credit spreads in 2017, having issued more than €9bn before the end of October. On Tuesday, a €1bn 10 year deal took that total within €1bn of the issuer’s 2016 total, but it didn’t come cheap.

On Monday, French laboratory testing company Eurofins Scientific followed last Monday’s €299m equity sale with a €300m hybrid deal paying very little new issue premium, as the firm’s funding keeps pace with its acquisitions.

Amprion, the German electricity transmission firm, is looking to raise €100m with the Schuldschein product as well as the Namensschuldverschreibung (NSV) — a similar instrument that is registered and can have a maturity longer than 10 years.

Bonds issued by Italy’s most prominent banks surged in value on Wednesday, after S&P upgraded the credit ratings of 11 of the country’s financial institutions.

Corporate hybrid bond investors have been heavily scaled back on their recent orders for new deals, so they will have been pleased by French laboratory testing firm Eurofins Scientific's Halloween Tuesday announcement mandating for its latest deal.

A benchmark deal from 2i Rete Gas, rated Baa2/BBB, was not in the same league as the storming transactions the corporate bond market saw on Monday. Those involved felt they were a day late arriving at the party.

Wind Tre, the Italian telecoms group, delivered Europe's largest ever high yield bond issue this week, a €7.3bn deal that has raised the bar for the market and led to expectations that more sponsors will follow suit amid heady investor demand.

UniCredit will upgrade its representative office to a branch in Abu Dhabi to focus on transaction banking and financing in euros and dollars.

Ringier, the Swiss media company, launched a €50m Schuldschein on Tuesday that is expected to attract a wider range of investors than its first outing in the market last December, a successful €50m issue.

The European high yield bond pipeline this week brought €1bn of single-B rated offerings in euros and sterling from new issuers, giving hope to those working for a bigger borrower base for the market.

Euro corporate bond issuance was much cooler on Tuesday after Monday’s fireworks. “Maybe everybody parties on day one and is a bit hung over on day two,” mused one syndicate banker.