France

Italian asset manager Anima Holding sold €300m of senior debt against a quiet backdrop this week, having decided to target the popular seven year tenor.

Air France-KLM has set the offer price for its €1bn capital increase following an accelerated bookbuild on Monday night.

Berlin Hyp has this week become the first financial institution to issue a sustainability-linked bond. Market participants were divided over whether the structure helped the issuer to achieve better deal terms, but the innovative trade will give other banks an important example to follow.

Nexity has returned to the equity-linked market with the sale of a new €270m seven year convertible bond.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes at the beginning of April.

Berlin Hyp will become the first bank to issue a sustainability-linked bond (SLB), after it announced plans on Friday for a deal with a coupon that will step up if the issuer fails reduce the carbon intensity of its loan book by 40% over the next 10 years.

Neoen, the French renewable energy company, said on Wednesday that it had received huge levels of demand for its €600m rights issue, proving that the right companies in the renewable energy sector can still attract a strong following among equity investors despite recent turbulence in green stocks.

Société Générale said on Wednesday that it was looking to sell its asset management arm Lyxor to French investor Amundi. The transaction will wrap up a three year restructuring programme, which has added up to 90bp to the bank’s capital ratios.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier took advantage of Tuesday’s strong market conditions to issue its first covered bond of 2021, and the fifth from Groupe BPCE. The €1.5bn eight year negative yielding transaction, which was larger than expected, partially refinances a series of CFF’s redemptions coming up in the next two months.

Three banks jumped into the euro senior market after the Easter break on Tuesday, benefitting from stable demand and printing with low new issue concessions.

Air France-KLM has revealed plans for a €4bn recapitalisation backed by the French government following approval from the European Commission.

French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that stringent lockdown measures imposed in some areas will be extended nationally for a month. Though the measures will cost France €11bn, it is unlikely to provoke a serious response in France’s bond market.