UniCredit

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Deutsche Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group this week sourced environmental, social and governance senior funding in euros, amid a shortage of supply in the format.

Engie, the French electricity and gas company, braved the markets alone as the European Central Bank met on Thursday, with the bigger than expected fresh wave of bond buying announced forecast to keep the rally in corporate credit going.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has joined a fast-growing list of banks marketing Covid-19 response funding in the bond market, raising €750m in non-preferred senior format on Thursday to finance projects through its social bond framework that tackle the effects of the pandemic

Italy once again asserted its market access on Wednesday, raising a staggering €14bn — its biggest single tranche bond ever. The new issue was timed just ahead of Thursday’s ECB meeting, at which the governing council is expected to expand its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp).

Italy and the European Union will reboot the euro public sector bond market on Wednesday after announcing syndications of new 10 and 15 year bonds, respectively. The deals will come ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday, in which it is widely expected to increase the size of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp).

Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, flattened its curve on Tuesday with a €3.5bn three tranche bond issue that commanded €15.1bn of demand. But European syndicate bankers said it offered no read-across for whether airlines might return to the bond market soon and that their chances of doing a deal were distant.

Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, the Italian state railway holding company, has signed a €600m loan package that includes an environmental element. Europe’s loan borrowers are following the bond market away from pandemic crisis funding and back towards sustainability-conscious financing.

BBVA surprised market participants by becoming the first bank to issue a Covid-19 response bond in Europe this week. There will be follow-on deals as the format catches on in credit markets — high grade corporates are looking to do deals too — but it is unlikely to be exploited as widely as it has been in the SSA market. David Freitas and Mike Turner report.

France impressed as it received a record €51bn order book and paid a small new issue premium with its first syndication since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sovereign was joined in the long end of the curve this week by two sub-sovereign borrowers as investor appetite for duration grows, with more supply expected to follow.

Commerzbank and Crédit Agricole this week showed that banks do not have to pay big premiums for subordinated paper, with investors regaining their appetite for risk during the coronavirus pandemic.

BBVA on Wednesday became the first European financial institution to launch a bond in the euro market to tackle Covid-19, unravelling the appetite for these type of bonds while undergoing a refinancing exercise.

Italy’s Ferrari in euros and the UK’s Southern Water Services in sterling won strong demand for new bonds on Wednesday, but the slowdown in issuance has got some syndicate officials wondering if the market is already winding down for summer.