France

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.

The European Central Bank announced on Monday that it was imposing a €4.8m penalty on Crédit Agricole for not obtaining prior permission for classifying instruments as common equity tier one (CET1) capital. It is the second largest fine it has handed to an entity in relation to its supervisory tasks.

The operational merger of Cades and Agence France Trésor will be completed by the end of 2018, with a full integration of staff from both agencies.

Bankers working within France’s equity capital markets are resigned to the fact that 2018 is going to be a very poor vintage for French IPOs, with volumes down significantly versus last year, a string of failed deals and supply unlikely to pick up in the second half.

The need to offer healthy new issue premiums is not holding back additional tier one bond issuers this summer. Barclays reopened the market for the product in dollars on Tuesday, to be quickly followed by BNP Paribas.

Interdealer broker TP ICAP revealed on Tuesday that it had chosen Paris as its post-Brexit hub in the European Union, as new CEO Nicolas Breteau called for the flexibility to pay company brokers the "market rate".

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes in the middle of the third quarter.

The financing for the €1bn acquisition of roofing business Imerys Toiture to Lone Star Funds was revised this week to include a subordinated debt tranche, as levfin investors still active in August pocket riskier but higher yielding paper.

Société du Grand Paris, a French agency that plans to sell its debut bond issue later this year, has launched the first ever Green Euro Medium Term Note programme — a move that bankers and experts said could bring a range of benefits to the issuer and the wider SRI market.