France

HICL Infrastructure, the UK-based infrastructure equity investor, has launched a capital raise to repay £75m worth of debt in order to shore up its finances for further acquisitions.

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) is planning to return to the Swiss franc bond market in the latter half of 2020 after an 18-month absence to refinance an upcoming redemption. Elsewhere, the Canton of Geneva returned to the market for the third time this month as it marches towards a record year on the capital markets.

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations issued its yearly Samurai bond on Thursday, raising ¥20bn ($190m) with a dual tranche.

Funding officials from Caffil, Credit Mutuel Arkéa and La Banque Postale gathered in early July to take part in a roundtable to discuss how they navigated their way through the peak of the crisis when covered bond market volatility was at its highest, and how they expect to manage funding in its aftermath, as the pernicious impact of the pandemic takes its toll.

Crédit Agricole won an appeal against the European Central Bank on Wednesday against fines levied against the treatment of some of its instruments as common equity tier one (CET1) because the central bank had provided “inadequate reasons” for penalising the French lender.

Rating: Aa2/AA/AA

Following the sale of its third syndication of the year this week — a €3bn inflation-linked bond — France does not expect to bring any more public benchmarks in 2020.

Unédic came to the market for its third social bond on Thursday after making its debut in the format less than two months ago. The deal extends the French agency’s social curve out to 15 years and completes its €10bn explicitly guaranteed funding allowance for 2020.

Insurance companies saw a favourable window of opportunity this week to sell subordinated debt. Assicurazioni Generali, Crédit Agricole Assurances and CCR Re benefited from the supportive backdrop to raise tier two bonds.

France hit screens with a 15 year inflation-linked bond on Wednesday, raising €3bn with its first syndicated linker since 2018, capitalising on growing demand for inflation-linked products.

France hit screens on Tuesday to announce a new long-dated inflation-linked benchmark at a time when market participants are bracing for the return of inflation due to the vast amount of monetary stimulus and spending by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Crédit Agricole Assurances (CAA) added to the subordinated deal flow in the FIG bond market on Tuesday by launching a tier two bond. The French insurer benefitted from the rarity of its appearances in primary markets, and the large deal size meant that although the issuer paid some premium, it "did not leave much value on the table", according to a lead manager.