UniCredit

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.

Green and sustainable bond and loan financing by companies has slowed as many firms have had to deal with urgent funding needs amid the coronavirus crisis. But three companies crowded into the bond market with green deals on Wednesday, achieving blowout demand — confirming that both issuers and investors remain keenly focused on green finance. Jon Hay and Mariam Meskin report.

Issuance in the financial institutions bond market had a preferred senior flavour this week, with issuers finding this the most cost-effective funding compared with other asset classes. In addition, some of them can use it to fulfil regulatory requirements.

On a busy day for corporate bond issues, with prestigious competing deals including from Nestlé, Swisscom is nevertheless hogging attention with its debut green bond, which comes alongside another green debut, for power networks group Eurogrid.

Nordea Bank and Erste Group Bank were marketing preferred senior bonds on Wednesday, finding demand in the seven year part of the curve following a flurry of five year deals earlier this week.

When revealing its first quarter results on Wednesday, UniCredit said it would be updating its freshly launched Team 23 plan in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, which has dented profitability.

High grade bond investors had a plethora of trades to pick from on Wednesday, as corporate bankers say May is shaping up to be a breakneck month for issuance.