France

Crédit Agricole has mandated leads for a possible eight and 15 year covered bond which is likely to be launched on Wednesday.

While many of the main euro issuers have already scored their big January benchmarks, the pipeline of euro issuance is growing increasingly congested, although the range of maturities on offer should allow borrowers to avoid treading on each other's toes.

France surpassed the expectations of even the most passionate supporters of the green bond market on Tuesday, selling comfortably the largest ever print in the format. Socially responsible investment (SRI) experts believe the deal makes it almost certain that other sovereign issuers will add green bonds to their funding mix.

The Agence France Trésor has announced the maturity date for the first ever French sovereign green bond, which could be priced this week.

Spanish and French covered bonds were well supported on Monday with further buying reported following demand seen last week. With only one Spanish Cédulas seen so far this year, the market should be receptive to more supply.

Shares in French voucher provider Edenred closed 1.6% lower on Friday after Colday, a vehicle for Colony Capital, turned to the blocks market on Thursday evening to sell a residual 5.7% of the company.

La Banque Postale (LBP) and Axa Bank Europe SCF priced French covered bonds this week. Axa’s may be its last before it restructures its programme.

Shares in Elis, the French bed linen and laundry company, fell 3% on Thursday after it set terms for its €324m rights issue to cut its leverage after buying Indusal in Spain and Lavebras in Brazil.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch will soon syndicate a €4bn bridge loan it has underwritten to back French aerospace group Safran’s acquisition of Zodiac Aerospace, the French maker of aircraft seats and interiors. The two companies want to leapfrog up the pecking order of aircraft parts suppliers.

LionTree, the US advisory boutique and merchant bank focused on the technology, media and telecoms sector, has opened an office in Paris as it continues its European expansion.

Bolloré, the French investment company, gave investment grade euro corporate bond investors their first unrated deal of the year on Wednesday, and managed to tighten its pricing by 25bp.

The French issuer, Axa Bank, has launched a sub benchmark covered bond with a 15 year maturity which closely matches the long dated assets on its balance sheet. This deal is likely to be the last deal under the present structure of its covered bond programme.