UniCredit

Intesa Sanpaolo issued a €1.25bn 10 year covered bond on Wednesday, a transaction that did not initially seem to be an obvious trade, but which in the end proved very successful.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary HypoVereinsbank (HVB) priced a well oversubscribed four year mortgage covered bond this week in the wake of CIBC's strong reception in the three year tenor.

The covered bond market experienced a surge in supply this week, confounding expectations, and illustrating how important it is for issuers to seize unusual funding opportunities.

Russian steel company Evraz has set the yield on a long five year benchmark at 8.25% area, a level that bankers away from the deal said was roughly in line with where he calculated fair value for the bond.

UniCredit has made a string of internal appointments to its Asia and Americas management teams.

Activity in the covered bond market had been expected to slow down but instead it has been surprisingly busy this week, with as many as three euro benchmarks surfacing over the first three days.

Air Liquide and Saipem loans show that bankers and borrowers are not yet slowing down as they seek to tie up remaining bumper deals they launched in a busy fourth quarter.

Russian steel company Evraz is roadshowing a Reg S senior unsecured dollar bond through six active bookrunners and two passive, in tandem with a tender offer.

Zumtobel, the Austrian lighting manufacturer, made one change to its seven bank syndicate in a €500m loan refinancing.

Europe's high yield market has made a remarkable comeback in the past fortnight, crowned this week when Ball Corp, the US can maker, priced a €2bn-equivalent bond, highlighting the bullishness of euro markets inflated by QE, writes Victor Jimenez.

Erste

Ball Corp, the US metal packaging manufacturer, wants to issue its first euro bond as part of a €1.5bn-equivalent deal to support the purchase of UK can maker Rexam.