Crédit Agricole

A €500m covered bond tap from National Australia Bank this week attracted unexpectedly vigorous interest from European bank investors on speculation that, despite coming from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), it will be eligible for inclusion in liquidity buffers. The deal will have been closely watched by other non-EEA issuers wanting to take advantage of demand before final regulatory guidelines are published at the end of September.

Via Solutions Nord has issued a €429m private placement as part of the funding for a €600m extension of the A7 motorway in northern Germany.

Concerns that there would be a dearth of additional tier one (AT1) deals ahead of the European Central Bank’s Asset Quality Review appear to be receding as Santander joins the pipeline, mandating leads for its second euro denominated AT1.

The sovereign, supranational and agency sector shot out of its summer snooze on Wednesday, as the first benchmark sized deals in more than three weeks drew bulging books and bankers tipped more mandates to hit screens later in the day. Investors with cash to put to work, a lower level of upcoming SSA supply than the last few years and unexpectedly dovish comments by the European Central Bank president late last week were all contributing to a heavily bid market, said SSA bankers.

Swiss Re and UniCredit are looking to be the first out of the door in the post-summer subordinated debt market, taking advantage of the recent rally in credit after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s comments earlier in the week gave investors confidence that the bank would enhance its measures to boost weak eurozone inflation.

Transurban, a Melbourne based toll road developer and manager, will start a four day roadshow in London and Europe on Monday for a potential euro bond.

Volvo launched the post-summer investment grade corporate bond issuance season on Thursday by doubling the size of its €300m print due 2019, which has a coupon of 2.375%.

Volvo preempted the start of the post-summer investment grade corporate bond issuance season on Thursday by doubling the size of its €300m bond due 2019.

Crédit Agricole took a €708m hit from its exposure to Banco Espírito Santo (BES) as its second quarter profit halved from the same period last year. Despite this, the French bank’s first half earnings compared more favourably year-on-year, aided by its improved first quarter and what it called “good business momentum”.

IFC Development has wrapped up a HK$10bn ($1.29bn) self-arranged club with 16 banks, doubling its fundraising in a repeat of a financing it signed in 2012.

Générale de Santé, the French private healthcare provider, allocated its €1.1bn acquisition loan on Tuesday after cutting the margin on the term loan ‘B1A’ to 350bp over Euribor.

French supermarket group Casino Guichard-Perrachon made the most of a quiet week in the investment grade bond market when it priced a €900m 12 year bond on Wednesday at 125bp over mid-swaps, needing almost no new issue premium to bring in €2.6bn of orders.