France

Another blistering week for euro issuance from public sector borrowers brought a dual tranche 20 and 50 year benchmark from the French government that other sovereigns could ape — but only if their liquidity strategy allows it, writes Craig McGlashan.

Rating: Aa2/AA/AA

Rating: A2/A/A

A stream of SSA borrowers entered the primary bond market this week in both euros and dollars. Dual tranche deals were popular as borrowers sought to take size without paying heavy new issue premiums.

BPCE made its first visit to the euro bank capital market this year on Wednesday, launching a 10 year bullet tier two trade just two weeks after a virtually identical trade in dollars.

Echosens, the French subsidiary of Shenzhen-listed Inner Mongolia Furui Medical Science Co, is preparing a float on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The bookbuild began on Tuesday for the Paris IPO of Mediawan, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) set up by three big hitters of French business to buy media and entertainment businesses.

A hungry euro market gorged on deals from France and the European Union on Tuesday, instilling confidence that a trio of trades on Wednesday’s menu will go well — despite two of them being in the same tenor.

Vallourec, the French tube maker that has been hit by falling capex in the oil and gas industries, began separate trading of its shares and rights on Monday, after the launch of its €480m eight-for-five rights issue last Friday.

France is preparing its first dual tranche trade, targeting the 20 and 50 year parts of the curve, while bankers expect the European Stability Mechanism to aim for a shorter tenor this week.

Read on to see how selected French agencies are progressing through their 2015 funding programmes.

Crédit Agricole raised €1.5bn in senior unsecured funding on Thursday, drawing strong demand at the long end of the curve as its syndicate remained cautious to ensure a smooth allocation process.