Euro

The European Commission has published its proposal for an EU recovery fund. Next Generation EU, as it has been dubbed, has impressed onlookers with promises of €500bn of grants and a further €250bn of loans for countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

France received its biggest ever order book as it came to the market for a 20 year syndication on Tuesday. SSA bankers say that investors are looking for duration after previously sticking to defensive maturities as the Covid-19 crisis eases.

Two more eurozone sovereigns are set for syndications on Wednesday, with France eyeing up 20 years and Iceland coming for a six year bond.

The head of the Cyprus public debt management office believes that the amount Cyprus can claim under the ESM pandemic support facility “is insufficient to justify any such action”.

Cyprus may become the first country to access the ESM’s pandemic support line, borrowing 2% of its GDP for up to 10 years.

Unédic, the French unemployment insurance agency, is facing an unprecedented strain on its services thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and its funding need has more than tripled as a result. CFO Jun Dumolard told GlobalCapital how the institution has been managing.

Unédic, the French agency responsible for French unemployment support, entered the social bond market on a permanent basis on Friday, launching its new social bond framework under which all its debt will be issued from now on. It christened the new programme with its largest bond in 10 years.

The Canton of Geneva took its 2020 funding up to almost Sfr1.2bn ($1.2bn) this week with a triple tranche deal — the most it has funded in a single year since 2013, according to Dealogic. Elsewhere, an attractive basis for dollar funders led a pair of rare issuers to return to the market.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, May 11. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

The lure of prestigious, fee-paying Bund syndications has driven banks to up their bids in Germany’s auctions, driving up the bid to cover ratio on its auctions and bringing down the sovereign’s cost of funds.

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Instituto de Crédito Oficial (Ico) was almost seven times covered for its four year Covid-19 social bond on Wednesday, as investors continue to support deals to tackle the pandemic. The European Stability Mechanism could follow with a similar maturity next week, after it sent banks a request for proposals (RFP).