UniCredit

A new Italian corporate bond issuer entered the market on Wednesday, as 2i Rete Gas, the second largest gas distribution company after Snam, issued €1.35bn of five and 10 year paper.

Western European lenders had a rare chance to finance drawn debt this week after Germany's FGA Bank signed a €550m three year syndicated term loan.

Acea, the Italian energy and water group based in Rome, issued a 10 year bond on Tuesday, following its more northerly peers Hera and Iren, which have issued respectively a 10 year and a seven year bond since late June.

Iren, the unrated Italian utility based in Reggio Emilia, issued its first public bond on Thursday, a €300m deal, after issuing three private placements in the past nine months.

Symrise, the unrated German flavours and fragrances company, issued a €500m bond on Thursday to help finance its takeover of Diana Ingredients, a French flavourings firm – Symrise’s biggest acquisition.

Daimler launched a €500m 10 year bond on Tuesday that showed quite how divided investor opinion can be about some instruments at the moment.

Deutsche Annington, the German housing company, on Wednesday brought its fifth bond issue since its rebirth last summer as a listed company that issues unsecured bonds. An objective of the deal was to increase Deutsche Annington’s following with German investors, and it succeeded in this aim.

Daimler launched a €500m 10 year bond today that showed quite how divided investor opinion can be about some instruments at the moment.

Tank & Rast, the German motorway services company, has softened a margin cut it is seeking on two tranches of a €1.45bn loan, after pushback from funds.

The covered bond market had one of its busiest weeks this year as six borrowers from five countries raised €5bn. With outright yields continuing to decline, and investors scrambling to hit return targets, supply was slanted to the long end, where more yield was on offer. Even so, several deals offered coupons that set new lows.

Nationwide opened books on Wednesday for the first post-crisis UK dual tranche covered bond, and only the second in that format from any jurisdiction this year. The successful outcome may help to establish dual tranche syndication for those issuers looking to raise large amounts of cash without compromising execution.

The reputation of Liberty Global and Discovery Communications played a decisive part in mitigating lenders' concerns about All3Media's credit quality to secure the television production company a £400m-equivalent loan deal, loans bankers said.