France

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.

Verallia, the French maker of bottles and jars, has begun bookbuilding for its €962m IPO, which will be the largest flotation in France more than two years.

Ubisoft Entertainment, the French video games developer behind Far Cry and Assassins Creed, issued a five year €526m convertible bond, adding to the wave of issuance in Europe over the past fortnight.

The Netherlands Development Finance Company debuted the first offshore Bolivian boliviano bond last Friday. Meanwhile on Monday, French agency Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations again returned to the ultra-long end to place a pair of callable euro notes.