Greece

The European Central Bank has said it will allow Greek banks to participate in its regular refinancing operations, potentially slashing their funding costs.

Forthnet, an unrated Greek telecom company, on Wednesday sealed with bank lenders a debt restructuring plan that it has been negotiating since April.

Titan Cement is set to become the first high yield issuer of the year from Greece, after more than six months without issuance from the country.

One of the major political risks facing the public sector borrowing markets this summer was solved overnight on Tuesday, after the Eurogroup agreed the release of €10.3bn of bail-out funds to Greece. Officials in the country are also optimistic that its debt could benefit from central bank buying as soon as next year, writes Lewis McLellan.

Monday night’s three equity block trades in Europe all led to decent trading in the stocks on Tuesday. They included CVC’s exit from Evonik Industries – scooped on a sole basis by JP Morgan, though Bank of America Merrill Lynch has worked on most of these deals.

Spain has nipped in ahead of its eurozone periphery peer Italy, mandating banks for a debut 50 year euro benchmark on the same day that the Community of Madrid had a strong showing at the short end and Greek yields rallied across the curve.

The latest standoff between the European Union and the Greek government could make conditions difficult for euro public sector issuance, SSA bankers fear.

Talks with the Greek government over the program review for last year’s bailout have stuck to policy changes which the embattled country can make, with “very limited, if any” discussion of debt relief, according to the IMF’s deputy managing director for Europe Poul Thomsen.

Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is meeting investors for what would be its first syndicated dollar benchmark trade.

The recent disclosure by Wikileaks of a conversation between three senior directors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised the uncomfortable topic of the Greek debt crisis, which shows few signs of abating. The conversations suggested political tensions in the European Union will get worse, not better.

Eurobank has issued its first covered bond in the private market after recently updating its prospectus. With two other major Greek banks having conducted similar exercises, the road to their rehabilitation in the capital market has become more established, despite rating downgrades.

With some of the lowest fertility rates on earth, Europe's periphery nations will struggle to maintain extensive social security obligations, as a shrinking number of workers shoulder the fiscal burden.