France

BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole have become the first euro area banks to launch senior bonds for nearly two months. They joined UBS in the euro market on Tuesday, taking advantage of a recent rally in credit spreads across the sector.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) was the latest public sector agency to head to the euro market this week as it raised €1.5bn on Wednesday with a 10 year benchmark. While the deal was fully subscribed, the order book was not huge and the pricing did not tighten from guidance, indicating that the market may be slowing.

Agence Française de Développement raised €1.5bn on Wednesday with a 10 year Reg S benchmark. While the deal was fully subscribed, pricing was not tightened from guidance, indicating that the frothy moves of the last three weeks may be slowing.

Caisse Centrale du Crédit Immobilier de France (3CIF) came to market with a five year bond on Monday, paving the way for fellow French agency SNCF to follow up with its green debut.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) on Monday became the first covered bond issuer in April to tighten pricing from initial guidance. Other issuers will take confidence from it to consider longer dated funding, offering an alternative to European Central Bank’s repo facilities.

Axa said this week that it would call one of its legacy tier two bonds as it reassured the market on the strength of its balance sheet during the coronavirus crisis. Most other insurance companies are not expected to face similar decisions until much later this year.

Crédit Mutuel Home Loan SFH followed Crédit Agricole SFH and BPCE on Thursday with a third French five year covered bond, which was priced at an identical spread. Even though the three issuers have raised almost €5bn between them, covered bond volumes are down this year and, with spreads at elevated levels, issuers will have more reason than ever to tap the European Central Bank for funding.

Crédit Agricole jump-started the primary covered bond market on Wednesday with a deal that is hoped will re-establish something of a normal rhythm of issuance.

Some of the largest financial institutions in the eurozone have yet to cancel or postpone their dividend distributions for this year, despite explicit guidance from the European Central Bank urging them to restrict payouts during the coronavirus crisis.

For consistency and execution, Société Générale is GlobalCapital’s best bank for equity capital markets in France and Benelux.

Public sector borrowers returned en masse to the primary bond market this week, with many selling new issues with an explicit focus on providing emergency financing in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The SSA market appears to be well and truly up and running, with four SSA borrowers hitting screens for new bonds in euros on Thursday, pulling in an impressive €11.5bn with deals from three to 30 years