Crédit Agricole

French building services outsourcer Atalian printed a €625m seven year bond on Wednesday, bringing total high yield issuance for the week to over €2.6bn.

Crédit Agricole issued one of three euro benchmark covered bonds this week, attracting demand that topped the combined interest seen in deals issued by Swedbank and HVB.

Rating: A1/A/A

Investors piled into a €300m bond issue for Brussels Airport on Wednesday, leaving syndicate bankers brimming with frustration that more issuers had not exploited this week's strong market.

Crédit Agricole attracted close to €4bn of orders for a new 10 year preferred senior bond on Tuesday, riding a tremendous rally in credit spreads following the weekend's well-received election result.

Tullow Oil, the Anglo-Irish oil and gas drilling company, finished its £625m rights issue with a small rump placement on Tuesday morning.

Following several months of apprehension in the run-up to Sunday's first round vote in the French presidential election, French banks can now look forward to better issuance conditions and lower funding costs as they build towards their regulatory capital requirements.

As the perceived European political risk reduced following the results of the first round of French elections, Asian debt markets opened on Monday to a deal from India's HPCL-Mittal Energy (HMEL).

Rare covered bond issuers from Portugal and Spain made a surprise return to the market this week after long absences with transactions that, under the circumstances, were very well received.

Banco Sabadell enjoyed a strong reception for its €1bn 10 year Cédulas which was priced on Wednesday, partly reflecting the paucity of Spanish covered bond supply, especially at the long end of the curve.

Embattled China Hongqiao Group’s banks have given it a reprieve from a credit crunch, after consenting to a covenant waiver on its $700m syndicated loan.

A surge in demand for Russian rouble paper could have been brought to a premature end by a US missile attack on Syria on April 7, but market participants are confident that issuance will continue.