UniCredit

The extraordinary sight of a German public sector borrower pulling a syndication mid-week led not only led to criticism of the deal’s execution but also reawakened fears over banks' diminishing ability to take down and warehouse sovereign and sub-sovereign bonds. Craig McGlashan reports.

As European equity markets briefly rallied on Thursday, Ford Credit Europe (FCE Bank) and Praxair stepped into the breach, printing €1.9bn of paper for a starved primary market.

European leveraged loan bankers and investors had a chance to sit back and take stock of the market this week, as no deals were launched, after 20 arrived in a surprisingly busy January.

Swedbank and SEB this week launched deals that attracted the largest order books and the widest distribution of any covered bonds issued this year, along with the smallest concessions.

Onorato Armatori, the Italian ferry operator, woke up the high yield market with a four day roadshow on Monday for its €300m debut bond. The issuer was followed by four more announcements.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and L-Bank are out with long five year euro benchmarks, as bankers reported a lack of demand at the short and long end of the curve.

Italy is set to benefit from a Bank of Japan-induced rally in eurozone government bonds late last week after mandating for a 30 year benchmark on Monday — and bankers suggest Spain could follow with a similar deal.

AIB Mortgage Bank attracted robust demand for its €1bn seven year covered bond issued on Thursday, and WL Bank also did well despite the difficult 10 year tenor and measly spread.

DCC — SIG — Capital & Regional — Transcom — North Energy

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank took a plunge into the euro senior market on Thursday, overcoming an uncertain backdrop to print a deal that leads claimed could transform its future investor base.

Asset quality took a turn for the worse in 2015 for Italy’s banks, whose future remains unclear despite newly approved plans for a state-backed bad bank.

KfW and the European Investment Bank nipped in with one-day executions on Thursday, raising €1bn apiece in what has been a turbulent week.