France

Groupe Peugeot Société Anonyme, the French auto manufacturer, chose a tough day to launch a €308m sale of stock in car parts maker Faurecia. The sale is a key condition of the company's merger with Fiat Chrysler.

Korian, the French operator of nursing homes, completed its €400m rights issue on Wednesday to fund the acquisition of Inicea.

Rating: AA/AA

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s rights issue is under increased threat from a group of rebel shareholders that disagree with the company’s vision to reset its business. These shareholders have rapidly surpassed the 5% threshold, according to a filing with the with the Autorité des Marches Financiers, after which they have to disclose their holdings.

The European Central Bank said this week that it thought a stronger role for countercyclical capital buffers would be key in making sure that banks use their available resources to boost lending in times of crisis.

Two public sector borrowers will follow the EU’s record breaking success in the euro market on Wednesday, with Agence Française de Développement looking to sell its debut bond under its new framework tied to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Greece tapping its 2035s.

UnipolSai Assicurazioni was nearly three times subscribed for a restricted tier one (RT1) this week — the first of its kind in Italy. An attractive coupon helped to offset any concerns about Italian sovereign risk or a lack of liquidity in the RT1 market.

Getlink, the company that operates the Channel Tunnel, is preparing a €700m high yield green bond to refinance its 2023 bonds and raise cash for capex, including finishing off a landmark electricity connection between the UK and France. The refi comes after it negotiated waivers on the covenants in its term loan to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) was able to raise €500m of 15 year funding flat to its curve on Monday. But, in anticipation of the EU's 10 and 20 year dual tranche mandate, announced the same morning, investors of the first negative yielding 15 year covered bond showed a degree of price sensitivity.

It was a moderate week for supply in the primary euro public sector bond market but the issuers that did come found ample demand, setting up a decent backdrop for the expected arrival of the European Union’s big borrowing programme next week.

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) took advantage of a strong market on Wednesday to issue its first ever benchmark transaction for pre-funding purposes.

Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale (Cades) will add a new point on its dollar social bond curve with a 10 year trade on Wednesday, where it will be joined by two other public sector issuers in the currency.