France

BPCE appealed to a wide range of investors by adding a green element to its preferred senior bond on Tuesday. The trade was met with hefty orders, even though investors are showing signs of winding down for the year.

Two French public sector agencies have closed their borrowing programmes for the year below their planned size, with one agency cutting short its funding by almost a third.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes as we approach the end of November.

The successful IPO of Française des Jeux, the French gaming company that runs the national lottery, this week gave encouragement to government plans to privatise more state assets. Sam Kerr reports.

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.