France

Neoen, the French renewable energy company, returned to the capital markets on Wednesday, following its popular €697m IPO in October last year, with a debut €200m convertible bond due in 2024.

The IPO of Verallia, the French maker of bottles and jars, is covered at its full size. Sources close to the deal are pleased with the calibre of investors in the book.

Sopra Steria, a French consulting and computer services business, has raised €250m of Euro Private Placements (Euro PP).

Agence France Trésor, the French sovereign debt office, has announced that it will increase its issuance of government bonds next year, which is partly being driven by the absorption of some of SNCF Réseau’s debt.

Crédit Agricole, Banque Fédérative du Cedit Mutuel and Société Générale all took advantage this week of cheap funding offered by the sterling market when compared with the euro.

Lecta has reached an ‘in-principle agreement’ with its creditors for a recapitalisation, which will cut the principal of its €600m senior secured notes by €380m-€400m in a debt-for-equity swap. The Barcelona-based paper company’s proposed recapitalisation qualifies as a distressed exchange, said Moody’s, and it slashed Lecta’s rating from Caa1 to Caa3.

September has been a bumper month for equity-linked issuance in Europe, with over €3.7bn of new convertible bond sales, according to Dealogic data.

Crédit Agricole and Banque Fédérative du Cedit Mutuel had contrasting responses for preferred senior bonds in the sterling market on Wednesday, with the French banks deciding to hit the market as members of the UK parliament returned to their seats.

French agency SNCF Réseau steamed on to screens on Tuesday with initial pricing thoughts for a tap of its December 2047 green bond.

Natixis has become the first bank to introduce a green weighting factor to its internal capital model, so that the way it prices loans is skewed to favour environmentally sound assets and disadvantage polluting ones. The ground-breaking move brings to fruition an 18 month project and anticipates what some believe may one day be demanded by regulators.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has made a pair of senior appointments within its European Union equities business in Paris.

Société Générale has reshuffled its equity capital markets team, moving multiple managing directors to new roles.