Crédit Agricole

Italian auto finance bank FCA Bank was in the market on Wednesday with its first benchmark floating rate note, which was priced with no new issue premium.

The European Investment Bank put the strength of the appetite for duration in the euro market to the test on Thursday, becoming the first borrower of the year to attack the ultra long end of the curve.

Crédit Agricole has moved one of its sustainable banking specialists to Asia, hoping to capitalise on what it expects to be a growing market for green bonds.

The euro market is providing SSA borrowers with ever more impressive execution — the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) pulled off the largest supranational or agency deal of the year on Wednesday — but it faces a fresh challenge on Thursday: ultra long debt.

A combined €48bn of cash swelled the orderbooks for Italy and Portugal’s deals on Wednesday, dispelling any fears that the reduction of the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme would hamper demand.

On Tuesday multi-tranche and green bond issuance returned to the investment grade corporate bond market, leaving just the hybrid asset class untouched in 2018. That didn’t last long, as Engie and Aroundtown launched new hybrid deals on Wednesday morning, one of which set new lows for the product's coupon and spread levels.

On Wednesday French toll road operator Autoroutes du Sud de la France followed the path its compatriot Orange had taken on Tuesday by issuing a €1bn 12 year new issue. Meanwhile Italian auto finance bank FCA Bank was also in the market with its first benchmark floating rate note.

The euro market is providing borrowers with superb execution — KfW gathered its largest ever book for a 10 year on Tuesday — but investors are requiring healthy new issue concessions in order to commit.

January’s impressive pipeline of sovereign issuance is starting to unload, as Italy and Portugal hit screens on Tuesday for their first syndications of the year.

Italian electricity supplier Enel sold its second green bond on Tuesday, repeating the timing of its first such offering in 2017, which it also sold in the second week of the year. The latest deal was the same size, but priced tighter and won a larger order book, despite printing with a longer maturity.

French telecoms operator Orange sold a new 12 year trade on Tuesday and paid a low new issue premium for the €1bn deal. The deal was one of three that priced on Tuesday, but only seven new issues for the year so far, meaning investors are keen to put their money to work.

KfW and Dexia Crédit Local are first out the blocks in what looks set to be a busy euro market for public sector borrowers this week.