France

British oil and gas company BP returned to the European corporate bond markets on Thursday for the first time in a year. Two euro tranches came 12 months after the company’s last euro offering, and a sterling tranche was its first in its domestic currency since August 2016.

Crédit Agricole has sold a Samurai bond to retail buyers, marking the first time it has participated in that market. It is in the tier two format, despite European regulators’ concern that non-institutional investors holding bank capital could prevent the effective resolution of institutions.

The shareholders of French brokerage Kepler Cheuvreux have restructured its ownership, with two new investors coming in and UniCredit increasing its stake, while others have sold out.

Public sector issuers have streamed back into the primary market in euros after being kept away by weeks of volatility. This week is already the second busiest of the year for the sector, but investors are starting to focus on where interest rates are headed.

France sold its first syndicated tap on Tuesday, adding €4bn to its GrOAT line. The sovereign will be followed in the green market by a Danish agency's sophomore offering.

France is set to revisit the SRI market, announcing a syndicated tap of its June 2039 Green OAT, or GrOAT. The deal will follow a German agency's annual green bond.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

CNP Assurances was more than three times subscribed on Wednesday as it issued the first restricted tier one bond in euros at a benchmark size.

Equity-linked investors got a second opportunity this week to buy new European paper when Soitec, the French maker of semiconductor materials, hit the market on Thursday with a €150m five year convertible bond.

French toll road operator Autouroutes du Sud de la France kept up the positive tone in the IG corporate bond market with a 10 year deal on Thursday, which it was able to increase in size and price with a single digit new issue premium.

Erste Group and Caffil found good demand for their covered bonds that were respectively issued in the six and 20 year tenors on Tuesday. But neither deal was straightforward, according to leads, who noted that overnight market volatility had weighed on sentiment.

Safran, the French aerospace and defence company, has returned to the equity-linked market with a €700m convertible bond due in June 2023.