France
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Ecofin, the investment manager that specialises in the infrastructure and environment sectors, launched an accelerated bookbuild on Wednesday evening to clean up all its shares in Direct Energie, the Paris-listed electricity company.
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LafargeHolcim, the French-Swiss cement group, found ample demand in the European bond market on Wednesday for a tap issue, showing how keen appetite remains, despite the nearness of the UK’s referendum on leaving the European Union next week.
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As European leveraged finance markets skid towards next week's UK referendum on EU membership, French glass bottle maker Verallia this week combined bonds and loans to cut its debt costs and pay Apollo Global a dividend. -
The French public sector covered bond issuer returned to the market for the fourth time this year to raise €1bn, with the 0.375% coupon being the lowest ever for a Obligation Foncière due 2025. The transaction was heavily reliant on central bank demand and underperformed after becoming free to trade.
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La Française de l’Energie, the French gas producer, had a bumpy ride on its first day of trading on Monday, closing 4.5% lower at €25.80, after its €37.5m IPO was priced on Friday.
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Credit Suisse has hired Jerome Renard from Nomura as a managing director in equity capital markets. Renard has broad experience, but taking into account his French nationality and experience in Iberia, he will principally cover those markets.
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Investors’ thirst for stock in Dassault Aviation, the maker of Mirage and Rafale fighter jets, was evident last March when Airbus sold €1.76bn of it in a block trade. It was clear again on Thursday night when Airbus launched a two-pronged monetisation of its entire remaining 23.6% stake.
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French glass packaging maker Verallia plans to sell the second largest single-B rated tranche of the year on Monday, after a pumping week of high yield issuance.
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French retailer Fnac is assigning allocations to the 17 banks that joined its €1.35bn loan in syndication, with another lender added to the deal this week.
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The European Central Bank's asset purchase programme allowed some issuers to grab cheap funding this week but uncertainty surrounding the freshly launched corporate programme was less helpful for one French issuer.
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Île-de-France was able to tighten pricing on a green bond by 5bp from initial thoughts while still overshooting its target size this week. Bankers away from the deal said it was more a sign of the maturity of the green bond market than about any one issuer or bond.
