France

French sugar and alcohol producer Tereos on Wednesday sold a tap of its 2023 bond. It plans to use the offering’s proceeds to repay high cost bank credit facilities.

Investment grade corporate issuers hit the euro bond markets in force on Tuesday with five primary transactions in play, but defensive deal sizes characterised the frantic flow.

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the Société de Financement Local (SFIL) sold benchmark debt to an increasingly welcoming market for euro-denominated paper on Tuesday.

The recent surge of primary action in European high yield suffered a blow on Monday when Verallia pulled its €500m pay-if-you-can (PIYC) bond. But the market trotted on and kept its momentum.

Air Liquide's €3.28bn rights issue, the biggest in the world last year, was a blowout success.

Sodexo, the French catering, support and care services group, hit the euro market on the same day the US released nonfarm payrolls for a €600m 10.5 year bond that clinched "super tight" pricing.

Air France-KLM

Electricité de France tapped three different European investor bases in one go on Thursday as it hit the euro, Swissie and green markets for €3.1bn-equivalent of bonds.

French agency Société de Financement Local will launch on Tuesday its first ever syndication.

French glass packaging maker Verallia on Wednesday began testing investors’ thirst for risk with a €500m pay-if-you-can (PIYC) bond, the first of its kind issued since October 2015.

Alliance Automotive, the Blackstone-owned French car parts supplier, announced and printed an add-on to its LBO bonds in just one day, to fund the acquisition of UK peer FPS Distribution.

After a day of caution on Wednesday, when some issuers held back from the primary market after spates of volatility last week, unrated Air France-KLM timed its €400m deal right, showing that investors will still play for yield in higher risk names.