UniCredit

Gamenet, the Italian gambling machine operator,opened a roadshow on Monday for €200m of high yield notes — the third high yield issue from an Italian borrower since the UK referendum on June 23.

Two Ardian owned firms joined several others in the market late this week — leaving levloan participants incredulous at the market's strength in the wake of the Brexit vote.

Two block trades by UniCredit this week, totalling €1.08bn, offered further confirmation that the equity capital market is functioning well, and that there is ample demand for good European stocks, including from US long-only investors.

UniCredit’s new CEO, Jean-Pierre Mustier, has sent strong signals to the market this week that he will be determined about reshaping the bank, which by last week had lost 75% of its market value in the past year.

Italian gaming operator Sisal priced the all-bond funding of its buyout by CVC Capital Partners on Thursday, and brought to life a high yield market still stunned by the Brexit vote.

Lenders are still keen to underwrite sterling loans after the UK’s Brexit vote — as shown in Steinhoff’s £452m deal — said one head of Emea loan syndicate.

Croatia’s Zagrebački Holding completed a buy-back of nearly half of its outstanding Eurobonds on Thursday.

Turkey's Sekerbank has mandated six banks for a Reg S only subordinated tier two Basel III compliant bond.

UniCredit used similar tactics on its accelerated bookbuild sale of 10% of Bank Pekao on Tuesday night to those it had used for Monday’s sale of FinecoBank — and achieved a similar result: multiple times oversubscription, led by one very large anchor order.

South Africa's Steinhoff has agreed to buy UK discount retailer Poundland in a £597m deal, with Crédit Agricole one of two banks underwriting the loan financing. The French bank also benefited from Steinhoff’s thwarted bid for Darty earlier this year, when it co-underwrote a facility for rival bidder Fnac.

A last minute order saw Yapi Kredi Bankasi relaunch a new senior deal at an increased size on Tuesday. The Turkish bank offered a 10bp new issue premium, according to lead bankers.

UniCredit has dominated the headlines again this week, but this time for a better reason. Italy’s largest bank has also been its biggest loser of shareholder value, its shares falling 75% since last summer, as investors have lost trust in the sector.