BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas announced strong quarterly earnings last week, bolstered, like many banks, by activity in equities. But some analysts were more interested in the French firm’s acquisition of Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage unit, in the wake of the Archegos Capital affair.

Shinhan Financial Group sold a Basel III-compliant additional tier one bond with a sustainability label this week, funnelling some of the proceeds from the $500m trade to Covid-19 relief efforts.

Eni, the Italian oil and gas company, got its chunky €2bn hybrid capital issue comfortably oversubscribed on Tuesday, after a similar success for Orange last week. Corporate bond investors are piling money into anything that offers higher returns.

Zuercher Kantonalbank is getting ready to become the first local Swiss bank to issue senior paper in euros, ahead of an important period in its funding schedule.

Carbios, the French sustainable plastics company, has unveiled plans for a €105m capital raising to finance the next stage of its growth, with the backing of major shareholders.

Wickes Group, the UK do-it-yourself retailer, has signed an £80m revolving credit facility, as the company completes its postponed demerger from Travis Perkins.

Christopher Wickli, a director in Citi’s ECM team has left the bank after almost 14 years.

Greek banks are making the most of exuberant conditions in the financial markets in 2021, with Eurobank spying a golden opportunity to return to the senior FIG bond market this week. The next milestone is the country’s first additional tier one and, having just breezed through an equity raise, Piraeus is a prime candidate to open the market. Frank Jackman and Sam Kerr report.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market is set for a glut of supply as companies appear to be loosening the capex purse strings once more. The only debate is about when it will come. With cash piles at near record levels, there is little agreement about when firms will need to fund spending with fresh debt, writes Mike Turner.

Issuers piled into Europe’s high grade corporate market on Wednesday but the deal flow had slowed to a dribble by Thursday with many issuers still on earnings blackouts. Investors showed less enthusiasm for the deals that came at the tightest spreads.

Rating: Caa1/B+/CCC

Bpifrance achieved a solid result as it sold its first green bond on Thursday, which came alongside another green bond from a compatriot issuer.