France

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes so far this year.

Europe’s corporate bond market could be read two ways this week. On one hand, conditions were superb for issuers — many large deals were brought and spreads were usually rammed tighter by 20bp or even 30bp during bookbuild, to fine or negligible new issue premiums.

Saint-Gobain, the French building materials company, came in the second, weaker half of a very busy week in the European corporate bond new issue market. But although its €1.5bn of five and 12 year bonds were one of the deals rival bankers said had found cooler demand, those close to the deal insisted it had gone well.

Dollar SSA issuance is expected to pick up next week, thanks to a change in the euro/dollar basis swap that is making issuance in the currency more attractive for euro funders. There was still a smattering of dollar trades this week, including a Sofr-linked floater that broke new ground for the format.

XTX Markets, the quantitative-driven electronic market-maker, has appointed Serge Harry as chairman of its new French entity and Geoffrey Damien as managing director, head of France.

Dan Oakes, head of international ECM origination at Commerzbank, is changing roles with the bank and moving to Paris.

The European Central Bank struck a decidedly dovish tone at its meeting on Thursday, meaning there were no nasty surprises for SSAs planning bond issues in the coming days. A French agency is on screens for a deal in dollars this Friday, while euro and dollar benchmarks are slated for next week.

Bank of China paid a visit to the euro bond market on Wednesday, raising €500m through its Paris branch. It was just the latest Chinese financial institution to fund in the currency.

French car manufacturer Peugeot has begun marketing a Schuldschein, as market participants are confident in attracting corporates fresh out of results season.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel looked to the long end with its first non-preferred senior bond on Wednesday, following the example Crédit Agricole set late last month.

Covered bonds issued by Intesa Sanpaolo, Axa Bank and Aktia on Tuesday “flew out the door”, according to leads, with the depth and breadth of demand surpassing expectations. The superb conditions may not last, but exuberance is expected to prevail for now.

Investors put in more than €6bn of orders for a new non-preferred senior bond from Crédit Agricole at the beginning of the week, after the French bank opened books on the longest dated deal of the year so far.