UniCredit

BayernLB was able to close the books on its debut green bond after only three hours on Wednesday, as investors piled into the tightly priced transaction.

The Italian fashion house Tod’s has signed a €500m sustainability-linked loan, as environmentally conscious financing continues to infiltrate the infamously wasteful fashion industry.

Throughout these uncertain times, UniCredit is providing a point of reference for the CEE, thanks to our strong commitment to supporting clients and the region.

UniCredit’s Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) division was aware of the threat of Covid-19 early on, and took decisive measures to mitigate its impact.

CaixaBank found €3.7bn of demand for a green senior bond on Tuesday, as investors revealed their hunger for new paper. BayernLB could follow with a green deal of its own against the improving backdrop in euros.

UniCredit’s decision to align the definition of a defaulted receivable mortgage loan with the issuer's internal classification will have a negligible impact on the quality of the cover pool, said Moody’s.

Met Group, the Swiss energy trading company, has signed €915m of short term loans, reducing its facility for the first time for years, after ABN Amro, one of its main lenders, pulled out of this kind of financing. Met found two other banks to replace ABN but wanted to focus on price with the deal, rather than size.

Europe’s convertible bond market has got off to a relatively slow start to the year, with €1.6bn of issuance in January, according to Dealogic data. However, the asset class remains popular with investors looking to gain equity upside but mitigate against valuation risk.

Rating: Aa1/AA+/AAA

Austria, Greece and Iceland all received huge order books for their first syndicated bonds of the year, coming hot on the heels of a European Union jumbo dual-tranche sale earlier in the week.

Iceland was awash with demand in the euro market on Thursday, allowing it to comfortably sell its biggest bond in euros since 2014. But it was a far different outcome for the Joint Laender, which failed to achieve full subscription.

FIG rainmaker Andrea Orcel is stepping back into the limelight as UniCredit chief executive, just as momentum is building for large-scale banking consolidation. He has an array of M&A options, but will he be shy in pulling the trigger? David Rothnie reports.