France

Amid a hail of equity capital markets deals on Thursday evening, Airbus launched a €2.1bn sale of all its remaining shares in Dassault Aviation, using a €1bn exchangeable bond and block trade of about €800m. That came after Valeo had sold a $450m equity-neutral convertible earlier in the day, and as two other block trades were in the market.

Cades more than doubled its minimum size target for a euro benchmark tap on Thursday, as the European Investment Bank also printed a large euro tap.

Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens struggled to fill the order book for a no-grow €500m bond on Wednesday, thanks in part to confusion surrounding its eligibility for purchase by the European Central Bank.

Île-de-France was able to tighten pricing by 5bp from initial price thoughts for its fourth foray into the green bond market and still managed to increase the deal from its initial target size.

The 10 year Bund yield hit a record intraday low on Tuesday, as a German region increased a deal size and a French agency lined up an unconventional eight year deal.

Île-de-France will open books for its fourth green bond on Tuesday morning, in spite of troubling US jobs data.

Four banks have undewritten a bridge facility to support Groupe SEB's acquisition of WMF Group and the company is understood to be considering a small syndication of the facility.

French textiles and apparel manufacturer Chargeurs has agreed its debut Euro PP — a €25m seven year deal — as well as a €32m bank facility.

French car hire firm Europcar Group on Tuesday sold a €125m tap of its 2022 bond in a high yield market that is longing for more single-B issuance.

Philips Lighting and Maisons du Monde’s IPOs have run precisely along the same timelines, with many similarities in how the sales went, and today their debut trading performances also ran in parallel, as both stocks jumped. Philips Lighting closed up 10% and Maisons du Monde 5.9%.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) became the latest bank to print floating rate senior unsecured notes on Friday, as tightening fixed rate spreads make floaters more attractive to buyers.

The IPOs of Philips Lighting and Maisons du Monde both reached successful conclusions on Thursday. Their books built gradually, which a banker said boded well for them to trade solidly when they are listed, unlike some recent soggy performers like Telepizza.