France

Supply and demand for senior financial institution bonds was lukewarm this week, as issuers and investors favoured higher yielding products amid healthy market conditions. FIG deal arrangers are predicting that the trend is set to continue and that issuers will favour capital trades.

Agence Française de Développement is hoping to publish a broader thematic bond framework in the next couple of months to include the issuance of social-labelled debt alongside green bonds.

French equity capital markets are having another subdued year. Just €8.77bn has been raised so far across IPOs, block trades, rights issues and convertible bonds, according to Dealogic data.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), one of the largest owners of shopping malls in the world, is considering a large rights issue to reduce its leverage as the retail industry grapples with the economic fallout of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

FIG market participants expect a smooth return to euro bond issuance from next week, with bankers and investors now set up to facilitate deals where ever they may be.

French banks have been among the most active issuers of covered bonds so far this year but, with the pace of mortgage origination expected to slow and deposit inflows rising, further supply is less certain with pre-funding for next year becoming an option with doubts over the longevity of the prevailing strong market conditions.

Subordinated debt transactions in dollars from a trio of European banks left no doubts about the strength of the Yankee market this week. Bookrunners are encouraging issuers to execute trades in the asset class quickly, as they are unlikely to encounter better conditions before the end of this year, writes David Freitas.

Solid financial results are encouraging Dutch insurance companies to resume dividend payments and share buyback programmes after getting the green light form the national regulator.

The Agence France Trésor (AFT) has suspended Morgan Stanley’s primary dealership in French government bonds, making it the first bank to suffer such a proscription.

CEA Investissement, the corporate arm of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, has sold €104m of shares in Soitec, the French semiconductor company, through an auctioned block trade won by Société Générale.

STMicroelectronics, the French-Italian semiconductor maker, has raised $1.5bn through the sale of new convertible bonds, the company said on Tuesday.

Wordline, the French payments company, has returned to the equity-linked market to sell a new five-year €600m convertible bond at a negative yield.