Intesa Sanpaolo

Sharjah-based United Arab Bank (UAB) has raised a $195m loan from a consortium of local and European banks, as borrowers in the region continue to diversify their portfolios with international lenders.

With equities in green, Thursday was a fair sailing day for corporate bond issues in Europe, and five issuers took advantage, including two French names and two Swedish. Demand was strong and terms tight.

Intesa Sanpaolo has signed a memorandum of understanding with Rubicon Capital Advisers, as part of the Italian bank’s attempts to beef up origination and distribution.

Eutelsat, the Baa3/BBB- rated satellite company, launched a benchmark eight year euro bond on Thursday, into a market kept empty by the European Central Bank's press conference. Bilfinger and Cabot were the only other corporate issuers.

Thursday’s corporate bond new issue action in Europe confirmed the picture presented on Wednesday: that investors were determined not to let macroeconomic issues bother them, and were piling into new issues. The day was less blemished than the previous one had been by volatility, enabling issuers to get some very tight spreads.

European corporate bond investors showed they were hungry for paper on Thursday, despite the gloom infecting equity markets this week about the prospect of a restart to the China-US trade war. A flurry of issuers came to the market, hot from roadshows, and got plenty of over-subscription while slashing their spreads by 20bp to 30bp.

Spain’s Merlin Properties has signed a €1.55bn sustainability linked loan, with the real estate company becoming the latest in a long line of names to add green and social elements to their bank funding.

Banca IMI, the investment bank of Italian financial services group Intesa Sanpaolo, has become the latest European firm to offer client clearing through CDSClear, the Paris-based LCH clearing house.

Switzerland’s Coca-Cola HBC has amended and extended its revolving facility, with the soft drink bottler supersizing its loan to €800m and including a sustainability element.

After issuing a £500m seven year bond in March, Glencore repeated the performance, this time in the euro market. It issued a €500m 7.5 year bond that achieved a similar book size and price tightening. Telecom Italia also issued for the second time this year, after losing its Fitch investment grade rating on Friday.

Spain’s Abertis Infraestructuras has shifted the obligations of around €9.97bn of loans to itself from its holding company, with the toll roads group immediately paying down a sizeable portion of the debt.

Two renewable energy companies achieved successful euro bond issues on Thursday. Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy firm, and ERG, the Italian wind energy group, issuing in green format, both tightened their prices and finished with plenty of over-subscription in their books.