France

Crédit Agricole took advantage of a relief rally in OATs to issue a €1.5bn covered bond on Tuesday which, by virtue of its seven year tenor, offered a larger pick-up to Bunds than any other maturity.

French banks could be free to issue tier three capital this month, as a new law establishing terms and conditions for the new asset class enters the final phase of the country’s legislative process.

Rating: BBB+

A day of calm in European markets opened a window for primary issuance on Monday that French property investment company Icade seized, one day before the US presidential elections.

Find out how far progressed French agencies are in their funding programmes as we enter November.

Equity block trade business came back to life this week, as sellers hastened to monetise stakes before the US presidential election.

Despite the damage done to this autumn's IPO season, with a string of deals pulled and several trading badly, there is still a handful of flotations in the market, and ECM bankers believe they have a chance of success, writes Aidan Gregory.

Real money sellers were seen in recently issued Italian covered bonds on Thursday, along with some profit-taking at the long end of the French curve, which is expensive to OATs. But with German Pfandbriefe looking cheap relative to Laender, the bonds look well supported, bankers said.

Société Générale beat expectations despite posting a 2.4% year on year decline in third quarter profit, as it offset weakness in its French retail banking unit by becoming the latest bank to benefit from increased revenues from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities.

French firm Teleperformance has completed syndication of its $1.825bn acquisition loan and may refinance part of the deal with private placements, following the example set by other French SME firms this year.

French trade fair organiser Comexposium on Wednesday joined the recent wave of refinancing offerings in the euro leveraged loan market with its own €394m offering.

Nissan has done the UK a favour. By playing hardball about wanting assurances from the UK government about Brexit, it has opened the debate into one where real investments are discussed, and tough choices become apparent. The City should follow its lead.