France

Covered bond spreads were holding steady on Thursday as bank traders lighten their balance sheets amid modest secondary market buying from the European Central Bank (ECB), ahead of Crédit Agricole and Nordea’s inaugural green transactions and Raiffeisen Bank International’s vanilla debut.

Caisse de Refinancement de l’Habitat (CRH) returned to the covered bond market on Wednesday to issue a €1bn seven year covered bond, but attracted €1.4bn less demand than for its €1bn 10 year, issued in October.

CNP Assurances won healthy demand for a green tier two capital bond issue this week, as insurance companies begin to embrace the idea of printing capital instruments as socially responsible investments.

The sterling public sector bond market was alive on Tuesday as the UK sold the penultimate syndication of its financial year and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations returned to the currency for the first time since January 2018.

The IPO of Française des Jeux, the French gaming company that runs the national lottery, is set to close this week and equity capital markets are already eyeing up the next big sale from the French state.

France’s Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations is preparing to make a rare appearance in the sterling market for a two year fixed rate trade.

Crédit Agricole has mandated its investment banking team to present its updated green bond framework, which will be used for its debut green covered bond, to investors.

Xavier Niel, the founder and controlling shareholder of Iliad, the French telecoms company, is using an innovative technique to enlarge his stake, while avoiding the usual requirement to make a public offer to buy the whole company. Some bankers think it could be a clever new option for company owners — others doubt it can be used widely. Sam Kerr and Jon Hay report.

The IPO of Française des Jeux, the French gaming company that runs the national lottery, has been well received during its first week of marketing and was covered on the full size of the deal within three hours of launch last week. Demand continued to grow throughout this week with retail demand driving momentum.

La Banque Postale has suggested that issuers of additional tier one (AT1) capital should drop the tradition of making large pricing steps in the euro market, after setting a very low coupon for its debut in the asset class this week.

French car parts maker Faurecia has gone against the headwinds buffeting the industry, cutting financing costs with its latest refinancing round. A number of other well known high yield borrowers are also rushing into the market before Christmas to switch their higher coupon paper into cheaper alternatives.

Danish Ships Finance, Natixis Pfandbriefbank and Raiffeisen Bank International will keep the primary market busy with deals and roadshows this week. But the main focus will be on the size and spread that Deutsche Bank achieves for its innovative debut structured conditional pass through (CPT) covered bond that will be launched imminently.