France

A series of comeback trades has established firm demand for every debt class in the bank bond market. With credit spreads moving another leg tighter this week, issuers must now consider whether they have a precious opportunity to wheel out their riskiest transactions with the coronavirus pandemic still threatening society and capital markets. Tyler Davies reports.

ABN Amro has ended a three week hiatus in the euro non-preferred senior market, launching a new deal on the back of a strong rally for bank credit spreads.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, May 18. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

BPCE attracted more demand from more investors than any other French covered bond issued in at least eight years when it launched its first green covered bond on Tuesday. The outcome sent a strong signal to other borrowers seeking cost-effective, long term funding that central banks do not offer.

Eurofins Scientific, the French-listed bio-analytical testing company, completed a €535m capital raise on Monday night, to fund investments and capital needs for more Covid-19 testing.

Unédic, the French unemployment insurance agency, is facing an unprecedented strain on its services thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and its funding need has more than tripled as a result. CFO Jun Dumolard told GlobalCapital how the institution has been managing.

France has outlined plans to issue a new 20 year syndicated bond, confirming market speculation that the sovereign was looking to join its eurozone sovereign peers in tapping the capital markets to finance its revised funding programme for 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Investors lapped up Axa Bank Europe’s €250m tap of a 15-year Obligations Foncieres on Monday and showed that demand for ultra-long dated paper is back on the table. And, being considerably longer than the funding offered by the European Central Bank, the transaction should give a boost to the primary market, despite downbeat supply expectations.

Unédic, the French agency responsible for French unemployment support, entered the social bond market on a permanent basis on Friday, launching its new social bond framework under which all its debt will be issued from now on. It christened the new programme with its largest bond in 10 years.

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Public sector borrowers piled into dollars across the curve this week, with every issuer finding plenty of demand. But it was trades from Finland and Cades which stood out with aggressive price tightening and chunky order books as they made their long-awaited returns to the currency.

French covered bond issuer Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) ventured into unexplored territory at the end of last week to print the longest ever covered bond.