Europe

Once France broke international records for sovereign defaults, thanks to wars, money printing and dodgy liability management.

Société Générale has announced that Brendon Moran, formerly global co-head of corporate DCM, will become senior banker, covering natural resources and utilities in the UK.

Parts of the corporate bond primary market showed signs of strain on Tuesday with one rare issuer, Arkema, pricing a €700m 10 year trade with an 11bp premium over fair value — one of the largest premia for a vanilla corporate trade in recent weeks.

Covered bond spreads have kept at tight but stable levels despite renewed selling of French and UK covered bonds on Tuesday. However, there is a growing sense that the market must ultimately move wider.

Crédit Agricole issued a five year senior non-preferred bond on Tuesday, attracting a robust order book and pricing flat to its curve. The deal showed investors are still “desperate to grab what they can get”, according to one FIG banker, despite increased uncertainty over the rates outlook and the outcome of French elections.

Crédit Agricole became the largest shareholder of Abengoa on Tuesday, after Banco Santander disclosed to the Spanish financial regulator the sale of most of its holding in the engineering group.

Stellar funding conditions in emerging markets enabled Romania to print 10 and 18 year debt at record low yields on Monday.

A trio of banks showed the primary market for FIG bonds is in good shape despite the impending Easter holiday by attracting good demand for their deals. The floating rate format proved particularly popular as investors looked for a hedge against the increasingly uncertain geopolitical and rates outlook.

The pace of borrowing has slackened for public sector borrowers as Easter approaches but a few are still out hunting for second quarter funding.

A trio of names have crowded into the investment grade corporate market on Tuesday, though France’s Arkema is expected to bring the only trade in benchmark size as volumes tail off heading into the Easter break. Meanwhile, Stada's €5.3bn buyout looks to be an early contender for deal of the year in leveraged finance.

Santander’s former head of Middle East corporates, Wafi Saleh, has joined Spanish business services firm PKF Attest as a partner of the debt capital market division.

Shares in Gestamp Automoción and Banca Farmafactoring, which had performed poorly on their first day of trading after their IPOs on Friday April 7, steadied this week, providing relief to equity capital markets bankers anxious to avoid poorly performing deals putting off investors.