France

Spain, fresh from an upgrade to its Fitch credit rating, hit screens on Monday to announce a new 10 year euro benchmark. The sovereign will share the market with Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Public sector borrowers are pouring into the three year part of the dollar curve after a series of issuers printed strong deals in the tenor last week.

Investment grade loans bankers are ready to stump up big tickets for bridge loans, and deals are coming their way. Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical group, is readying an $11.6bn debt-financed acquisition of Bioverativ, the blood disorder treatment company, and banks are set to launch at least one other M&A loan into syndication this week. Michael Turner reports.

Crédit Agricole Assurances caught market participants’ attention with a new tier two deal on Monday, gathering orders of close to €5.1bn.

Sterling conditions are searing hot for public sector borrowers, with records breaking left, right and centre. And despite investors taking large volumes out of the market, SSA bankers are confident that more supply can be handled.

The three year part of the dollar curve took centre stage for public sector issuers this week, having played second fiddle to fives so far this year. Issuers were met with just as strong a reception in the short end of the curve as they have enjoyed in fives so far — and SSA bankers believe some could be tempted to test the longer end.

Guarantor: Kingdom of Belgium (51.41%), Republic of France (45.59%) and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (3.00%)

Dollar SSA deals are showing little signs of a hangover from a public holiday in the US on Monday, with all three of Wednesday’s trades well over subscribed and pricing inside guidance.

Big central bank and bank treasury demand, alongside good liquidity in the sterling/dollar cross currency basis swap and issuers’ willingness to print large deals, are driving the strongest ever start for the sterling SSA market — and a record trade for World Bank.

Crédit Agricole issued Swiss franc senior preferred bonds due November 2023 on Wednesday, pricing the transaction inside the bank's Swiss senior secondary curves.

A widening in dollar swap spreads since the end of last week should help support a trio of dollar deals on screens for Wednesday’s business, said SSA bankers.

Crédit Agricole has named Atul Sodhi as head of global debt capital markets corporates, for which he will relocate from Hong Kong to Paris.