UniCredit

UniCredit announced an €11.8bn loss on Thursday as expected, paving the way for its €13bn rights issue and fifth shot at a transformational rescue. The bank said it had signed agreements preparing for 14,000 redundancies, but away from this carnage, the underlying businesses appeared to stay strong.

A triumvirate of covered bond issuers from Denmark and Norway enjoyed stellar demand for their euro covered bond benchmarks this week.

Belgium defied turmoil afflicting European government bond spreads this week, pulling in big books for a dual tranche euro benchmark. The sovereign's success may have emboldened Finland to follow suit with its own barbell transaction.

Investors wasted no time posting orders for Sparebank Vest Boligkreditt’s covered bond issued on Tuesday, a deal which ticked all the right boxes for maturity and spread, despite concerns from Moody's about the sustainability of Norwegian house prices.

UniCredit has named the bankers to fill a series of senior country posts in its financing and advisory business, which covers equity and debt origination, coverage and M&A.

Italian eyewear maker Marcolin entered a quiet European high yield market on Tuesday, announcing a roadshow starting on Wednesday for €250m of floating rate notes after signing a joint venture with LVMH.

MET Group, the Swiss headquartered multinational energy firm, closed a €560m dual-tranche revolver on Wednesday evening that bankers said will be used to shore up its enterprises in eastern Europe.

Shares in UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank, closed 1.7% lower on Thursday after it unveiled the terms for its fully underwritten €13bn recapitalisation late on Wednesday.

UniCredit has made three senior appointments in Asia, including to its management in Singapore and Mumbai, as well as hiring Florence Blazy as a senior banker in France.

Disclosing Pillar 2 ‘guidance’ is discretionary and perhaps even discouraged, but banks risk falling foul of speculation if they choose to keep their full supervisory capital demands a secret.

Fondo de Amortización del Déficit Eléctrico (FADE) was warmly welcomed by capital markets on Tuesday for its first benchmark in 18 months, while Asian Development Bank hit screens looking for its first syndicated euro deal in almost three years. HSH Finanzfonds also raised cash on Tuesday.

Shares in Amundi, the French asset manager, fell 1% on Monday after its shareholders gave near-unanimous approval at an extraordinary general meeting to its €1.4bn capital increase to partly finance its €3.545bn acquisition of Pioneer Investments from UniCredit.