Mapfre has successfully placed subordinated bonds with 236 institutional investors from different European countries. The UK and Ireland took up 22% of the total issuance, France 16%, Germany and Austria 14% and Italy 13%.
Telefonica has reached an agreement with Vodafone which will allow the latter to access its fibre optic network both in non-regulated areas (the 66 most populated cities in which Telefonica is not obliged to share its infrastructure) as well as in a significant part of the regulated zones.
Caixabank has informed Deutsche Bank’s management team of its interest in the German bank’s Spanish subsidiary in the event of a sale. The approach was made in 2016, before Deutsche Bank reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to reduce the fine for selling “subprime” mortgages to $7.2 billion
One of the benefits of the Talisman acquisition for Repsol has been precisely the reduction of geopolitical risk in its Upstream business, given that the lion’s share of its Downstream activity is carried out in Europe.
Repsol and its partner Armstrong Energy have made the biggest conventional discovery of hydrocarbons in the last 30 years on US territory. The total amount is approximately 1.2 million barrels of light recoverable oil, a figure which is equivalent to four years of consumption in Spain.
Iberdrola has warned of the risk Donald Trump’s administration poses to renewables’ growth plans in the US. Iberdrola says Trump could freeze or eliminate the CPP (Clean Power Plan) designed by Obama. This envisaged investments of $8.5 billion a year until 2030. But for now, these changes in US policy have not altered Iberdrola’s growth outlook.
Popular’s share price is very volatile and is up around 8% from its year lows, amid rumours that the only option for the troubled bank is to merge with another bigger lender.
After the restructuring Santander carried out in Spain in 2016, the bank could be planning to improve efficiency in other countries, including Germany. Although the project is in an initial phase, it would obtain cost savings of about 15%.
The deadlines for the merger of Bankia and BMN will be accelerated once it has been confirmed there is no interest on the part of other investors. The tie-up is expected to be completed after the summer and will be the starting gun for the next round of sector consolidation.
Catalan lender Sabadell has sold its subsidiary Sabadell United Bank (Sabadell United) to US lender Iberiabank Corporation (IBKC) for a total price of 1.025 billion dollars (967 million euros).