France

Foncière des Murs, the French property company controlled by Foncière des Régions, will raise €200m of equity in a rights issue to partly finance its €542m acquisition of a portfolio of 19 Spanish hotels from Merlin Properties.

The plans of London Stock Exchange Group and Deutsche Börse to pursue a merger of equals received a boost this week, as rival exchange Euronext agreed terms with the LSEG to buy its Paris clearing house business LCH SA in an all cash offer.

Renault Credit International Banque, the finance subsidiary of Renault, became the first corporate bond issuer of 2017 on Tuesday, slipping through the year’s earliest possible window to issue in euros.

France has wasted little of 2017 in getting its green bond to market having missed the chance to be the first sovereign to print in the format when Poland brought a deal at the end of last year. It announced on Tuesday the six banks that will run the trade.

Four covered bond issuers returned to the market on Tuesday with the first deals of 2017. Two €1.5bn 10 year transactions showed that borrowers are prioritising the tougher, longer duration deals and, while conditions permit, issuing in large size.

BNP Paribas was marketing senior non-preferred bonds in both euros and dollars on Tuesday, as French banks looked to prioritise issuing the new bonds in early 2017.

While Euro PP volumes have dipped this year, the number of deals has been about the same as 2015. While the nascent market finds its place in the corporate finance landscape, 2016 was either a heart-warming, or heart-wrenching year for Euro PP.

Shares in Elis Services, the French bed linen and laundry company, gained 8.6% on Thursday after it announced on Wednesday night that it was buying Indusal of Spain and Lavebras of Brazil.

The London Stock Exchange has entered into exclusive talks with Euronext about selling it LCH.Clearnet SA, the LSE's French clearing subsidiary.

The technical outlook for French covered bonds is likely to support spreads, but this could be undermined by a more precarious political backdrop as elections draw near.

France will aim for the long end of the curve with its first ever green bond, which it plans to syndicate in 2017.

France has carried and cared for the idea of creating an explicitly bail-inable class of senior debt for about nine months, but the birth of the new asset class this week was swift, effortless and pain-free. Success of the first two deals was critically important, as investors will become very familiar with the new product in the first quarter of 2017.