France

Veolia Environnement, the French water, waste and power company, joined on Tuesday the parade of investment grade blue chip companies launching convertible bonds at attractive terms — in this case, a negative yield and very high conversion premium.

SMCP, the French fashion firm controlled by KKR, registered its document de base with regulators on Tuesday, in the first step towards a possible IPO.

After over a month with no French supply, Caffil and Compagnie de Financement Foncier returned to the primary market on Monday, respectively launching a tap and a new benchmark which both met with a strong reception.

Read on to see how French agencies have progressed through their 2016 funding programmes.

BNP Paribas reopened the euro tier two market on Friday with a sharply priced trade, the first capital deal of any sort from a European bank in over seven weeks.

Technip, the French oilfield services and engineering group, launched on Thursday evening a €75m tap of its €375m equity-neutral convertible bond, issued in January, for a further €75m, after the bond and stock had traded up strongly.

Prodware Group, the French software vendor, has issued a €79m Euro PP.

BPCE fully exited its stake in French real estate firm Nexity on Tuesday, as it sold €283m-worth of shares through a block trade led by Société Générale.

Groupe Capelli, the French housing construction group, has raised €14.2m through a debut Euro private placement, in two tranches.

Alès Groupe, the French cosmetics company, has issued a €60m European private placement, its first bond issue in that format.

The long end of the euro curve is wide open for public sector borrowers, after a pair of issuers printed deals this week and speculation grew that further central bank stimulus is on the way.

Unédic joined a mini resurgence in the 10 year part of the euro curve with the third new issue in the tenor in two weeks, following a one month dearth of supply.