Spain

Spanish utility Iberdrola had significant success with its debut green hybrid bond in November when it received €3.2bn of orders. However, its second such bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts when it was issued this week.

Two new SRI corporate bonds were priced on Monday, but with very different results. Iberdrola’s green hybrid bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts, while Danone’s debut social bond had to pay just 2bp of premium.

Spanish telecoms company Telefonica announced the sale of new hybrid issues this week while also tendering for several of its outstanding hybrids. After more than a month since the last benchmark euro hybrid issue, investors contributed to an order book exceeding €4.5bn.

Spanish telecoms company Telefonica has announced the sale of its latest hybrid new issues while also tendering for several of its outstanding hybrids. After over a month since the last benchmark euro hybrid issue, investors contributed to a large order book.

Private equity firm CVC and local investor Alba are funding their €3.8bn acquisition of 201m shares in Gas Natural, the energy group, with a €1.9bn loan, which is set to become one of the largest Spanish financial deals of the year.

Six of the nine investment grade corporate new issues in the last week of February were announced with a three letter acronym that, while providing clarity, served to frustrate investors keen to see greater volumes of issuance. WNG stands for “will not grow” and this week told investors that the meagre sized deals would not be increased, irrespective of demand.

Ignacio Blasco, who was a leveraged finance banker at Société Générale for 12 years, has joined investment bank Houlihan Lokey after a short spell in direct lending.

Five new investment grade corporate bond deals were priced on Tuesday and, while pricing was competitive, none of the issuers allowed for any growth in the size of the deals as all five used a no-grow strategy.

Orders peaked at more than €3.4bn for BBVA’s five year non-preferred senior deal on Tuesday, with floating rate notes starting to prove popular among both investors and issuers.

Spanish insurance firm Mapfre has amended and extended a €1bn syndicated loan, adding two years to the maturity and a sustainable financing element that could lower the cost.

Rating: Baa2/BBB+/A-

Italy could retrieve half of the basis points it has lost to Spain in the run-up its general election next weekend — if the vote returns the most market-friendly result, according to a portfolio manager at a leading investment house. Spain, meanwhile, printed a 30 year benchmark with the second largest book ever for a euro sovereign deal in the tenor — another sign that the country is marching towards or already at semi-core status, said bankers.