UniCredit

GDF Suez, the French gas and electricity group, has launched a €5bn loan facility into the market, seeking to refinance debt early to take advantage of low loan margins.

CEE sovereign issuers are standing firm this week, boldly pressing on with their bond issuance plans despite President Vladimir Putin's draft bill approving Russia's annexing of Crimea and the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and the EU.

Anima Holdings launched an €600m IPO on Monday, as the asset management firm hopes to lure investors with the rare promise of southern European financial institution exposure without the worry of banks' troublesome balance sheets.

Spanish construction firm ACS has raised €405.6m through a five year bond exchangeable into Iberdrola shares less than six months since a similar €720m transaction exchangeable into the utility firm’s stock.

Länsförsäkringar Hypotek (LF Hyp) issued Sweden’s first covered bond deal of the year on Tuesday, after Finland’s OP Mortgage Bank attracted excess demand for its deal on Monday. The Swedish bank’s euro funding was notable for being cheaper than that achievable in its home market.

Investors in long dated senior unsecured debt appeared to have abandoned their yield targets this week, sending coupons below 3% on a Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel fixed rate transaction, amid one of the busiest weeks of activity in the senior unsecured financials market this year.

A trio of rare dollar issuers took to the short end of the curve this week, supplying investors at a point that has been starved of new deals this year. The Kingdom of Denmark drew the strongest response, beating out even the Bank of England in terms of demand and pricing at the same level.

After announcing a spectacular €9.3bn goodwill writedown and €7.2bn loan loss provision, UniCredit is trying to get back on the front foot, with a plan to deploy more capital in central and eastern Europe, while hiving off its non-core portfolio into a standalone business.

After announcing a spectacular €9.3bn goodwill writedown and €7.2bn loan loss provision, UniCredit is trying to get back on the front foot, with a plan to deploy more capital in central and eastern Europe, while hiving off its non-core portfolio into a standalone business.

Market softening on continuing concerns over the Asian economy isn’t having any apparent effect on KBC Group’s euro additional tier one deal, which was launched on Wednesday morning by lead managers Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, KBC Bank, Morgan Stanley and UBS. The deal is looking set to price at the tightest coupon level for an AT1 deal so far, despite other recent names trading weaker on the secondary market on Wednesday.

Any doubt over the enthusiasm for senior euro denominated bank debt on Monday, when a short selloff was followed by three successful pricings, was entirely dispelled by Tuesday morning, with three more senior deals hitting the market and meeting big demand off the bat.

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