Crédit Agricole

The Nordic Investment Bank paid 'flat to 1bp' of new issue premium on Tuesday as it brought an environmental bond in in the seven year area — which bankers are calling the 'sweet spot' of the euro curve.

The World Bank has grown its funding team with the hiring of a well-known figure from the MTN dealer community — and will add another name soon.

Abeo, the French producer of sports and leisure equipment, has issued its first Euro private placement note. The rarity of the sector, as well as the small intended volume, meant the leads could push for tighter pricing and more attractive terms.

French retailer Fnac Darty has amended and extended €600m of bank debt, with the company saying that a strengthened business model helped it cut the cost of its loan facilities.

Dominique Blanchard has returned to Crédit Agricole as regional head of the global markets division, Asia Pacific, the bank announced on Tuesday.

Crédit Agricole is opening representative offices in Colombia and Chile, the lender said on Monday, as its looks to improve strengthen client relationships in the countries.

A flash of public sector SRI bond issuance last week heated up on Monday, as Nederlandse Waterschapsbank found a strong reception for an affordable housing bond and Nordic Investment Bank prepared an environmental offering in a tenor that bankers said was attracting strong demand.

A pair of supranationals helped bolster Hong Kong’s green bond ambitions with some SRI deals this week.

After selling €4.6bn of loans in March, Unilever Spreads unveiled the €1bn high yield bond portion of its leveraged buyout funding package on Wednesday. But as well as jumbo deals, other borrowers with smaller offerings are also vying for investor attention.

Australian property company Stockland was the first Australian issuer to sell a green bond in Europe in 2014. The company finally returned to the euro market on Thursday, but chose not to go with a green bond, on the same day as compatriot Ausgrid chose to price its new deal.

After several weeks of focusing on conventional bonds in core currencies, SSAs popped back into the socially responsible investments (SRI) market this week. Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB) is laying the ground for an affordable housing bond in euros, while the European Investment Bank found a solid reception for a Climate Awareness Bond that came in rare seven year dollar form.

The Republic of Indonesia sealed an opportunistic dual-currency bond on Tuesday, quickly taking advantage of positive sentiment following a ratings upgrade from Moody’s.