France

Two European real estate investment companies have wrapped up loans in the last week, though borrowing by the sector is lagging behind bumper 2015 volumes.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) enjoyed a strong reception for its fourth covered bond of the year, the seventh 10 year issue in little over two weeks. Despite the surfeit of 10 year supply and meagre spread to OATs, the transaction was smoothly executed.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier has mandated leads for the first French covered bond since mid-June, the bank’s fourth this year and the sixth 10 year in two weeks.

Veolia Environnement etched its name into the record books this week by becoming the first French company and only the second European corporate to issue a Panda bond.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made with their funding so far this year.

BNP Paribas and HSBC followed Barclays into the sterling market on Monday, revealing opportunities in the currency following last week’s Bank of England meeting as spreads grind tighter and book sizes grow.

Petit Forestier, the French refrigerated vehicle leasing firm, closed syndication of its €525m acquisition loan earlier this week with oversubscribed commitments from lenders.

In the 1983 blockbuster movie TV meteorologist Phil Connors gets caught in a time loop. With new issue premiums set to rise and spreads prone to soften, the covered bond market could also be set for a repeat of last year, say bank traders, and analysts at Crédit Agricole.

France's Danone has completed syndication of $13.1bn of loans to fund the $12.5bn acquisition of North American organic food and drinks company White Wave. But there might not be many more jumbo deals this year, as political volatility looks set to hang over the M&A market for a little longer, writes Robert Cooke.

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Chief executive Frédéric Oudéa warned of further turbulence as a year-on-year slump in Société Générale’s equities business drove profits at its investment bank 36.2% lower. Group profits, however, were cushioned by strong international retail banking income and the sale of shares in Visa Europe.

BNP Paribas showed the euro market was still open with a €750m 10.5 year tier two deal on Wednesday, jumping in ahead of the introduction of ‘tier three’ to profit from strong results and receptive markets.