UniCredit

Intesa Sanpaolo became the first Italian bank to raise funding during the coronavirus pandemic this week. It offered a healthy premium for its five year senior deal, but the bonds have performed very well in the secondary market.

Tim Hoffmeister has taken up senior positions in an M&A advisory firm and a management consultancy in Germany.

Some of Europe’s largest banks have taken large chunks of syndicated loan market share in EMEA this year, as the pandemic has prompted some institutions to flex their muscles and others to retreat.

Fitch cut the ratings of four Italian banks this week, triggering underperformance in the market and pushing some non-preferred senior bonds into speculative grade territory.

UniCredit began the year with a new template for growth but is now simply trying to help support clients through the crisis, while hoping that the deeper relationships being forged will endure, writes David Rothnie.

High grade corporate bond investors showed few signs of fatigue on Wednesday, as deals commanded comfortable oversubscription, despite the flurry of issues in recent days.

High grade corporates filled the primary bond market again on Wednesday, with issuance levels this week looking likely to hit almost €20bn on the back of record weekly European Central Bank bond buying.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market pumped out deals on Tuesday, with some defensive issuers managing to print inside fair value while some of the day’s more esoteric picks had to pay up even for short maturity debt.

Iccrea Banca said on Tuesday that it had obtained the necessary regulatory approval to call two of its outstanding subordinated bonds, amid debate about the economic merits of leaving capital instruments outstanding.

Eni saw chunky demand for the first Italian corporate bond sold since the coronavirus pandemic hit markets in March, but it had to pay up over its curve compered to oil industry peers from outside Italy.

Eni, the oil and gas company, became the first Italian corporate to open books on a syndicated bond since the coronavirus pandemic sent markets went haywire in March, as syndicate bankers say issuance levels will ramp up sharply in the coming days.

French car maker Peugeot, rated on the lowest rung of investment grade, amassed €2.3bn of demand for a bond issue on Thursday, enabling it to raise €1bn, after crossover credit Nokia’s success selling debt earlier in the week made it clear that there is demand for issuers with trickier stories.