France

The euro high yield market closed the week before the Easter break in strong form, with bonds from Burger King France and Colfax, the US gas company.

Michel Péretié, the ex-chief executive of Société Générale CIB, has backed the creation of a new SME bank focused on the Benelux region and Germany.

Wobbles in eurozone government bond secondaries this week failed to deter a strong showing from a pair of public sector issuers in primary on Tuesday. Unédic found strong demand and tightened from guidance on its longest dated benchmark ever, while Austria broke a series of records with a 10 year euro benchmark.

Once France broke international records for sovereign defaults, thanks to wars, money printing and dodgy liability management.

Crédit Agricole issued a five year senior non-preferred bond on Tuesday, attracting a robust order book and pricing flat to its curve. The deal showed investors are still “desperate to grab what they can get”, according to one FIG banker, despite increased uncertainty over the rates outlook and the outcome of French elections.

The pace of borrowing has slackened for public sector borrowers as Easter approaches but a few are still out hunting for second quarter funding.

Unédic and Austria have announced that they will sell euro benchmarks at the long end of the curve on Tuesday.

French finance minister Michel Sapin has warned British officials that London will lose its euro denominated derivatives business after leaving the European Union, saying that the bloc must be “masters” on rules that apply to its currency.

Deutsche Bank shares closed on Thursday April 6 at €15.68, well above the €11.65 subscription price in its €8bn rights issue, for which subscription closed that day.

Lloyds Bank has arranged for Unibail-Rodamco, the French-Dutch property company, what it believes is the first syndicated loan that gives the borrower cheaper funding if it hits environmental targets.

Three more IPOs reached successful conclusions on Tuesday and Wednesday, including the largest in Poland for over two years.

Fears of Marine Le Pen winning this year’s French presidential election may have receded but investors should be hoping that her loss will be to frontrunner Emmanuel Macron — and not to former favourite François Fillon.