Portugal

A combined €48bn of cash swelled the orderbooks for Italy and Portugal’s deals on Wednesday, dispelling any fears that the reduction of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme would hamper demand.

January’s impressive pipeline of sovereign issuance is starting to unload, as Italy and Portugal hit screens on Tuesday for their first syndications of the year.

Investment grade corporate bond market players only had to wait one day for the first new deals of 2018. Renault and BMW both brought new paper to market on Wednesday, selling a total of €2.75bn of bonds with little premium.

A long-standing dispute about how the Bank of Portugal handled the senior bonds of Novo Banco in 2015 reared its head again this week, as a group of influential asset managers refused to take part in a subordinated bond issue from Banco Comercial Português (BCP). But the boycott is yet to damage Portuguese financial institutions, with banks gradually restoring their access to the capital markets, writes Tyler Davies.

Banco Comercial Português (BCP) found plenty of demand for its first ever tier two deal on Wednesday, even though a number of investment funds made it clear that they would not invest in Portuguese debt until the Bank of Portugal addressed the way it handled Novo Banco in 2015.

Italian corporate issuers have dominated bond issuance in recent weeks but Wednesday brought a pair from Iberia, as two energy suppliers took advantage of the market's hot conditions.

Caixa Económica Montepio Geral this week attracted strong demand for its first covered bond since 2009 and the first ever Portuguese deal with a conditional pass through (CPT) maturity.

Caixa Económica Montepio Geral has mandated lead managers to market the first publicly syndicated Portuguese conditional pass through (CPT) covered bond using a structure that is somewhat different to Dutch CPTs.

Investors piled into a Unione di Banche Italiane (UBI) €1.25bn 10 year Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite on Monday, despite it offering no new issue premium and being the issuer’s largest and longest transaction in at least six years

Net FX sales by Chinese bank are down 75% month-on-month in August, an advisor to the People’s Bank of China urges push for renminbi internationalisation as the currency strengthens, and Portugal hires banks for its first Panda bond issuance.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) is poised to issue the first post-crisis Greek covered bond, having drawn confidence from the blowout reception Santander Totta won for its €1bn 10 year this week — the longest Portuguese deal since 2010. Bill Thornhill reports.

The Spanish central government’s stand-off with the executive in Catalonia over an upcoming independence referendum is failing to worry Bono investors — but some bankers believe the market could soon be hit by a bout of volatility unless an agreement is reached. The Spanish situation was in marked contrast to the country’s western neighbour, as Portugal enjoyed a strong week after regaining investment grade status from S&P.