Crédit Agricole

UK and Irish investors took the market by surprise hoovering up over 40% of Crédit Agricole’s market opening senior non-preferred trade this week, though French accounts took the bulk of Société Générale’s follow-up deal.

Investors plugged another €3.5bn into the second ever senior non-preferred bond from Société Générale this week, in an early sign the market will be able to digest the large quantities expected from French banks next year.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi signed a $2bn three year loan on Tuesday, cementing the bank group for its $175bn merger with First Gulf Bank, though some key European banks turned down a role on the deal.

Spain’s construction sector has been a sore point in the high yield market this year, with three of its big hitters either in distress, debt restructuring or increasingly surrounded by accounting disputes and corruption. Investor adviser CreditSights this week said major shareholder families behind those companies bear some responsibility.

Investors greeted Crédit Agricole’s market opening senior non-preferred trade with more than €5bn of orders on Tuesday, allowing the issuer to bring pricing closer to its vanilla senior curve. Société Générale quickly showed it wanted to be next in line, in what is shaping up as an encouraging start for the new asset class.

Amundi’s shares closed at a record high on Monday, up 5.4%, after it announced it would use a €1.4bn rights issue and €600m of senior and subordinated debt to buy Pioneer Investments from UniCredit.

Crédit Agricole looks set to issue its first ever senior non-preferred bond this month, after Sapin II was finally passed into French law on December 11.

Yingda International Leasing has wrapped up a $250m two year loan with 14 banks joining the syndicate.

Crédit Agricole announced a mandate for the first ever senior non-preferred bond on Thursday, in a move that confirmed French banks are very keen to start issuing in the format.

JP Morgan was hit hardest as the European Commission on Wednesday fined three banks a total of €485m for manipulating markets in a euro interest rate derivatives cartel.

French health care group Elsan, owned by private equity firm CVC, on Tuesday announced price guidance on its €730m loan for the buyout of MédiPôle Partenaires.

The Euro PP market needs to act fast to stop bank lending luring smaller companies away. But a few tweaks is all it needs.