France

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).

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.