France

Caisse Francaise de Financement Local (Caffil) has mandated leads for a roadshow to present its new green covered bond framework that, unlike its peers, is secured on public sector assets.

La Banque Postale (LBP) took advantage of a rare rise in yields to issue a positive yielding covered bond on Monday. Its tiny return was enough to ensure success and stood in contrast to the negative-yielding deals issued last week that could have been hit by European Central Bank’s deposit tiering, said bankers.

Crédit Agricole launched a non-preferred senior bond on Monday in green format, attracting investors who put in over €2.3bn of orders at guidance.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made in their funding programmes at the start of the fourth quarter.

The branding may be on the way out, but there are plenty of reasons to be encouraged about the potential for real progress in the next phase of the Capital Markets Union.

NIBC Bank and Axa SFH issued two tightly priced 10 year covered bonds on Tuesday. The French deal was initially slow to build, in contrast to the Dutch conditional pass through (CPT), which got an extra boost because of its positive yield.

AXA Home Loan SFH has mandated leads for a 10 year deal that is expected to be launched in the near future.

Verallia, the French glass manufacturer, has closed the books on its IPO with the final guidance suggesting an offer price above the bottom of the range, despite difficult equity markets.

Swiss investors’ thirst for yield was quenched in some style at the end of last week, when Russian Railways printed the largest Swiss franc transaction of the year from an emerging market borrower.

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).