UniCredit

Altice on January 30 achieved a successful sale for its €4.8bn-equivalent bond package backing its takeover of Portugal Telecom.

GTech, the Italian gambling equipment maker, completed an €800m term loan on Friday last week, the day before Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s downgraded it to junk.

OVS, the Italian clothing retailer, has begun investor education for an IPO, which could involve about €350m of new shares being issued, as well as a smaller amount of secondary stock. They could add up to as much as 49% of the stock being listed.

OVS, the Italian clothing retailer, has begun investor education for an IPO, which could involve about €350m of new shares being issued, as well as a smaller amount of secondary stock. They could add up to as much as 49% of the stock being listed.

Italian oil and gas company Eni shrugged off any concerns around falling oil prices to issue a €1bn 11 year bond on Tuesday that was five times subscribed.

Austrian construction firm Strabag has taken advantage of favourable market conditions to issue a €200m seven year bond with a 1.625% coupon, but the low absolute yield hit retail interest in the deal.

Italian oil and gas company Eni shrugged off any concerns around falling oil prices to issue a €1bn 11 year bond on Tuesday that was five times oversubscribed.

Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, found strong investor demand for a €750m 10.3 year bond on Tuesday, when it became one of the first European companies to issue bonds after anti-austerity party Syriza’s victory in the Greek general election on Sunday.

After more than a decade at the forefront of European investment banking, Jean-Pierre Mustier has become one of five partners at Tikehau, the French investment fund. The hire will bring Tikehau a new level of prominence after a period during which it has grown in the expanding field of direct lending.

One of the most anticipated high yield bond issues of the year so far, Altice’s transaction to refinance its buyout of Portugal Telecom, is set to be priced today (Friday), and bankers believe it will confirm the market's vigorous health at the start of 2015.

SIG Combibloc, the Swiss drinks carton maker, has launched the long-awaited €2.265bn loan backing its acquisition by Onex, in the largest European leveraged takeover financing of the year so far.

Trafigura Beheer has launched a $4.25bn multicurrency facility with eight relationship banks. The commodity trader is refinancing a slightly larger loan of $4.73bn which was signed in March 2014.