France

After a stellar public sector euro market in 2018, there were signs on several deals this week that demand has waned.

French asset manager Axiom Alternative Investments has hired Laurent Henrio, the former global head of credit trading activities at Société Générale, to run a new fund buying illiquid credit exposures in banks’ trading books.

French building materials producer Saint Gobain received overwhelming demand for its second benchmark issuance of 2018. A combined order book of €7bn meant the issuer could have sold a much larger deal than the €1bn size limit it imposed on itself.

France’s Nexity has signed a €2.3bn corporate credit facility, with the real estate developer refinancing early and ramping up the size of its bank line to finance its growth strategy.

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations drew healthy demand on Tuesday as it tapped what bankers are calling the "sweet spot" for euro issuance.

Agence Française de Développement was comfortably oversubscribed and able to pull in pricing by a basis point from guidance with a climate bond issue on Monday.

Public sector euro benchmark supply is set to restart after a lull last week, with a eurozone sovereign and a French agency hitting screens on Monday for pricing on Tuesday.

French electrical utility Engie found success with a benchmark dual tranche issue of corporate bonds on its third visit to the euro bond market in 2018. The company opted for no-grows with both tranches, which served to increase demand markedly compared with its previous deal.

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.