France

Dutch grid operator Stedin and French utility Suez offered investors more of the same when they tapped into what has been strong demand for longer dated corporate bonds on the same day, but found that appetite is starting to wane.

After a drought of new investment grade corporate bonds from the telecom sector, French operator Orange made it two in two days after Telefónica sold a seven year trade on Tuesday. Orange offered a 12 year tranche as well as another seven year offering, but had to leave something on the table to achieve a €2bn print.

Telecom infrastructure firm Circet Odyssee has joined the early September pipeline of deals in the euro leveraged loans market with a small tap. It will fund the buyout of Irish peer KN Group, with parent company Advent planning to merge the companies.

French asset manager Tikehau Capital has appointed a head of private equity.

The covered bond market has a reputation for allowing tough trades to be done, so when My Money Bank postponed its debut deal, the product was imprudently tarnished. The situation could have been avoided had the deal been launched a week earlier or sometime later — just not last week.

Two of the euro corporate bond market’s more frequent issuers helped fully reopen the market with a pair of dual-tranche deals immediately following the UK August bank holiday. The quality of the credits was one of the reasons the market was able to digest €6.65bn of supply on the day.

The corporate bond market started at a frantic pace on Tuesday with five deals pricing. But on Wednesday French tyre manufacturer Michelin found its patience was rewarded with a chance to dominate investors’ attention and it was able to build the largest order book for a 20 year euro tranche in 2018.

Royal Bank of Canada boosted sentiment in the covered bond market on Thursday with a tightly priced €1.5bn seven year. At the same time Société Générale issued a defensively priced and well subscribed €750m five year.

The corporate bond market started at a frantic pace on Tuesday with five deals pricing. But on Wednesday French tyre manufacturer Michelin found its patience was rewarded with a chance to dominate investors’ attention.

Demand for a new Credit Agricole €500m public sector seven year covered bond this week was weak, but bankers are confident that sentiment is set to remain broadly constructive.

HSBC France met with a strong response for a sale of senior debt on Tuesday, after eschewing the recently popular choice of the five year tenor.

The European Central Bank on Monday fined Crédit Agricole for not obtaining permission to classify instruments as common equity tier one (CET1). GlobalCapital understands this related to ordinary shares issued in an equity raise.