France

Investors have been keen to lock in the money they made in the FIG bond market this year, rather than add new risk. This week, Rabobank added a green element to its latest bond in an attempt to encourage investors out of their shelters.

The European Stability Mechanism has chosen a five year tenor to kick off its funding for the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, a French public sector agency is out with its debut sustainable benchmark bond.

The French government has pulled the trigger on the IPO of Française des Jeux, the gambling company that is also the operator of the national lottery, a key part of president Emmanuel Macron’s plans to privatise state assets.

A block trade in Eurazeo, the French private equity firm, was sold on Thursday night but not covered, with banks bemoaning a late launch of the trade.

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The Bel Group, the French cheese company behind brands Babybel and The Laughing Cow, has become the first company to issue Euro private placement (Euro PP) notes with sustainability-linked margins, following in the footsteps of the loan market, the Schuldschein market and subsequently the bond market.

La Mondiale gave investors a rare chance to put money in restricted tier one (RT1) ranks this week. The bond was oversubscribed by more than 10 times but the insurance company paid a hefty premium to do the deal, according to one source away from it. However, one of the leads disagreed and said the bond was priced “probably inside fair value”.

BPCE and Banca Farmafactoring launched senior deals this week, with both issuers enjoying healthy receptions to their offerings. BPCE’s non-preferred mandate drew over €2.75bn of orders and the Italian issuer saw its preferred bond attract €850m at the spread level.

The French government, Caisse des Dépôts and La Banque Postale have signed an agreement in principle for the transfer of the majority of Société de Financement Local’s capital to Caisse des Dépôts.

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.