Euro

Investors’ attentions have turned to 2018 in the absence of any new IG corporate bonds this week. And, despite tight spreads and low yields, they expect similar conditions to prevail, albeit providing lower returns given the lower starting point than 2017.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg could opt to bring a green bond if it decides to come to market in 2018, GlobalCapital can reveal.

Belgium will issue its first sovereign green bond in the first quarter of 2018. Several countries in southern Europe are investigating the option, but they are less likely to issue in the near future.

Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale’s funding need for 2018 will be less than half that of 2017, the French agency said on Tuesday. It also provided an update on its merger with Agence France Trésor, the French sovereign debt agency.

This week, bankers and investors in the European high yield market sounded a message of confidence to potential issuers of bonds with triple-C ratings, even after BMC cancelled one such deal.

Unibail-Rodamco has taken out a €6.1bn bridge facility from its advisers Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, to finance its acquisition of Westfield Corp, the Australian shopping centre operator, for an enterprise value of $24.7bn.

China Huiyuan Juice Group is in the loan syndications market for a €160m three year deal — its second fundraising this year.

France’s pioneering work on sovereign green bonds took another step forward on Monday, as it named the members of its green OAT evaluation council on the same day that the group held its first meeting.

After a slow first two days of the week, some participants were calling the end of a successful 2017 for corporate bond issuance. However five new deals were priced in the next two days as French and German issuers in particular benefited from investor desire to keep buying.

Volkswagen Bank GmbH sold sold its first bond for more than three years this week. The banking services subsidiary of German car manufacturer Volkswagen printed a €2bn triple-tranche deal on Wednesday.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten on Tuesday printed “another great example” of what bankers said were the “tangible price benefits” of selling SRI bonds. The trade came in the same week that France tapped its famous green OAT — or GrOAT — via auction.

The likely return of a rare sovereign issuer next week will break the silence in an otherwise quiet market for SSAs in euros, after there were just a smattering of German Lander trades this week. Meanwhile, investors believe that the rising interest rate cycle in the US could have a knock-on benefit for euro borrowers.