Italian corporate finance suffers political shock

Carel Industries SpA

18/06/2018 10:16

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist.  The opinions
expressed are her own.)
    By Lisa Jucca
    MILAN, June 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The country’s
election and its turbulent aftermath contributed to a sharp drop
in capital markets activity. Despite still-buoyant M&A, total
investment banking fees are down 30 pct year-on-year. This is
bad news for banks, but worse still for local companies seeking
funding.
       
    Full view will be published shortly.
    On Twitter https://twitter.com/LJucca
    
    CONTEXT NEWS
    - Total fees from investment banking activity in Italy fell
30 percent to $600 million between January and mid-June 2018,
from $862 million in the same period a year ago, according to
Thomson Reuters data.
    - Fees for mergers and acquisitions in Italy were up 26
percent to $223 million between January and June 15, the highest
in 10 years. Fees derived from loans rose 6 percent to $102
million. But fees for bond issues were down 27 percent to $190
million, while fees for equity offerings were down 74 percent to
$85 million year-on-year. 
    - Three Italian companies have pulled planned stock listings
since Italy’s March 4 election, citing unfavourable market
conditions. These were Rainbow, the producer of TV animation
series Winx Club, local utility Estra and mid-sized textile
machinery maker Itema. However, refrigeration technology maker
Carel’s IPO went ahead.
    - A possible 8 billion euro purchase of Italian pharma
company Recordati by buyout firm CVC Capital Partners was put on
hold earlier this year due to Italian political uncertainties,
Reuters reported.   
    - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on  JUCCA/ 
    - SIGN UP FOR BREAKINGVIEWS EMAIL ALERTS: http://bit.ly/BVsubscribe

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Italy's Rainbow suspends IPO plans for unfavourable market
conditions     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1SS4RF
CVC puts $9 bln Recordati bid on hold as political uncertainty
weighs -sources     urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1SO5JS
BREAKINGVIEWS-The Exchange: Italy's almost premier   
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TH201
BREAKINGVIEWS-Cox: The big Italy short was hiding in plain sight
    urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1TE1EI
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Editing by Peter Thal Larsen and Bob Cervi)
 ((lisa.jucca@thomsonreuters.com;
Reuters Messaging: lisa.jucca.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))