CEE Equity

Two block trades by UniCredit this week, totalling €1.08bn, offered further confirmation that the equity capital market is functioning well, and that there is ample demand for good European stocks, including from US long-only investors.

UniCredit’s new CEO, Jean-Pierre Mustier, has sent strong signals to the market this week that he will be determined about reshaping the bank, which by last week had lost 75% of its market value in the past year.

UniCredit used similar tactics on its accelerated bookbuild sale of 10% of Bank Pekao on Tuesday night to those it had used for Monday’s sale of FinecoBank — and achieved a similar result: multiple times oversubscription, led by one very large anchor order.

UniCredit has dominated the headlines again this week, but this time for a better reason. Italy’s largest bank has also been its biggest loser of shareholder value, its shares falling 75% since last summer, as investors have lost trust in the sector.

A day after selling 10% of its Italian online retail investment service Fineco Bank for €328m, UniCredit has this evening launched an accelerated bookbuild of 10% of Bank Pekao, the Polish bank of which it owns 50.3%.

Russia sold a 10.9% stake in Alrosa, the world’s leading diamond miner, via an accelerated bookbuild which began in the evening on July 6, announcing the pricing on Monday this week.

Slovenian Sovereign Holdings (SSH), which manages Slovenian state assets, has postponed marketing for the IPO of Nova Ljubljanska banka, the country's largest bank, citing market turbulence surrounding the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

TBC Bank, Georgia’s second largest London-listed bank, is to follow its bigger rival Bank of Georgia by swapping its global depositary receipts for a full premium listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Investors in the IPO of Moneta Money Bank — the biggest in Emea so far this year — have made nearly a 10% return on their money, after the shares traded up for the fifth successive day on Thursday, despite a fall in profits.

A successful listing of state-owned Hidroelectrica could serve as a catalyst for further sales of state-owned assets in Romania, investors believe.

It’s been a sour few days for European equities — the Euro Stoxx 50 has lost 5.4% in three and a half days of continuous falls. With a big cohort of IPOs having been priced last week, the new issue market now enters a new phase, and will be looking for signals as to how receptive investors are.

Severstal, the steelmaker, reopened the Russian convertible bond market on Tuesday, with what bankers on the deal said was the first issue since 2013.