France

Equity capital markets in Emea reopened after the holidays this week, with details of the first new capital increases in France and the UK being made public.

Covered bond issuers from Europe’s core accessed the market across a range of intermediate tenors this week with LBBW, Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) and Helaba issuing some of their largest deals in years.

The equity-neutral convertible bond structure that faded from the market in the second half of 2016 made a strong comeback on Thursday, when French tyre maker Michelin launched a $500m deal that won eager demand and was priced at the best end of terms for the issuer, writes Jon Hay.

The equity-neutral convertible bond structure that faded from the market in the second half of 2016 made a strong comeback today, when Michelin, the French tyre maker, launched a $500m deal that won eager demand and was priced at the best end of terms for the issuer.

A strong start to the year for leveraged buyout deals has helped stoke banker confidence that 2017 could be another solid year for event-driven loans following healthy activity in 2016, even as refinancing business bottomed out.

Four covered bonds issuers raised almost €6bn between them at the long end of the curve this week, suggesting borrowers are prioritising tougher, longer duration deals. And while conditions permit some are issuing in the largest size possible.

A pair of public sector borrowers switched up their approaches in dollars on Thursday, with the European Investment Bank taking the rare move of revising pricing and Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale bringing a trade earlier than normal.

Autoroutes du Sud de la France, the French toll road operator, tested the investment grade euro corporate bond market’s taste for tenor on Thursday with a 10 year trade.

French medicine manufacturer Unither Pharmaceuticals is set to kick off the primary market in European leveraged finance for 2017, setting a bank meeting for Tuesday in Paris for €260m of loans.

Société Générale became the third French bank to dip into dollars for senior non-preferred debt this week, with investors appearing hungry for the new product.

A dual tranche global deal from the Asian Development Bank on Wednesday at least temporarily dashed hopes that this year could be strong for 10 year dollar benchmark issuance — although some bankers away from the trade felt that the problems were idiosyncratic rather than reflective of demand.

French technical and energy services company Spie is mulling its options for the acquisition financing of German peer SAG, but a company source dismissed talk of an imminent high yield offering.