Portugal

Portugal found the best possible medicine to a rising fever in its bond yields by building a large order book on Wednesday for its first syndication of 2017. Attention now turns to Italy, which faces a crucial rating review by DBRS on Friday.

Portugal took out around a fifth of its funding programme for 2017 on Wednesday, printing a €3bn 10 year deal. Bankers away from the trade said pricing looked a little cheap — but at the same time defended the sovereign’s debt office for playing it safe to win size.

Shares in Banco Comercial Português, the Portuguese bank, have fallen 21% since it unveiled plans late on Monday for a €1.33bn rights issue to strengthen its core tier one capital ratio and finance the redemption of contingent convertible bonds owned by the Portuguese government.

Portugal will kick off its funding year with a 10 year euro benchmark, mandating for the deal on Tuesday shortly after announcing its bond issuance target for 2017.

Euronext is looking for a chief executive officer for its Lisbon office, after Maria João Carioca answered a call from the Portuguese government to re-join Caixa Geral de Depósitos.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun has agreed to invest €174.6m of capital in Banco Comercial Português (BCP), but it is unclear whether or not the funds will go towards repaying the Portuguese bank’s contingent convertible bonds next year.

Portugal is set to round off its funding for the year by auctioning €500m-€750m of its April 2021 line on Wednesday.

Equity block trade business came back to life this week, as sellers hastened to monetise stakes before the US presidential election.

Portugal’s bond yields fell to levels last seen in early September, as investor worries eased over a vital ratings review of the sovereign by DBRS this Friday.

CaixaBank, the Barcelona-based retail bank, has launched a €1.3bn accelerated bookbuild this evening to sell a 9.9% stake in itself, as part of its move to take over Banco BPI of Portugal. The deal is one of four block trades in the European market this evening.

Showing flexibility over Caixa Geral de Depósitos latest recapitalisation may not have been such a bad decision, but by using logic inconsistent with other cases the European Commission risks making its state aid rules appear arbitrary and meaningless.

A pair of eurozone periphery sovereigns have deals in the pipeline — but could face problems bringing the trades, bankers warned this week.