Belgium

The euro market, despite a week shortened by European holidays, churned out a steady diet of solid deals. The French election, credited with triggering the rally, is growing more distant but the bid for quality fixed income paper remains as healthy as ever.

The Flemish Community’s second ever outing in the public debt market raised €1.25bn over two tranches, pulling in large books and setting the final spread 4bp inside guidance on one of the legs.

The Kingdom of Belgium hit the long end in euros on Tuesday, taking advantage of a healthy market to raise €3bn with a 20 year bond. Meanwhile, Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB) announced a tap of a 2041 line.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) priced a five year euro benchmark on Monday, nipping in with a one day execution ahead of a trio of deals scheduled for Tuesday.

Euronav, the unrated Belgian oil tanker group, made its debut in the bond market on Tuesday after a second consecutive year of profits in a declining industry.

Corporate bond issuers in Europe made a busy start with multi-tranche deals from energy company E.On and brewer AB InBev, as primary markets shrugged off the biggest ever cyber-attack on businesses around the world at the weekend.

Bpifrance Financement broke its size record on Tuesday, nipping back into capital markets ahead of several of its compatriots, according to a funding official at the issuer. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and NRW.Bank also made the most of the stable conditions, printing their own benchmarks.

Two Austrian banks and a Dutch bank have mandated leads for covered bond deals taking the number of banks in the covered bond pipeline to six.

On Wednesday night, the Belgian state conducted one of the largest equity block trades of the year so far – a 2.5% stake in BNP Paribas.

The European Commission has signed off on a piece of legislation that, if unopposed by the European Parliament and Council, could extend clearing compliance deadlines for smaller over the counter derivatives traders.

On Wednesday evening, Ontex Group, the Belgian maker of personal hygiene products, increased its equity capital by 10% through an accelerated bookbuild led by BNP Paribas and UBS.

The European Commission on Tuesday launched a public consultation on the operation and governance structure of European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs).