French Sovereign

Scor ended a long hiatus from the euro market on Thursday, selling a perpetual callable subordinated deal to a warm reception. With the issuer only offering a small size, it was able to draw a multiple times oversubscribed book.

Orange, the French telecoms company, showed the potential of the hybrid capital market for financing mergers and acquisitions today, when it raised €3bn towards its €3.4bn acquisition of Jazztel, just eight days after announcing the bid. Orange did not use a bridge loan for the deal.

Airbus Group, the French-headquartered aerospace company which used to be known as EADS, has launched syndication for its €3bn revolving credit facility, which is not due to mature until April 2017.

Vallourec’s bond issue may have gone well today, but for the other corporate issuers in euros and sterling it was a much rougher ride. Accor launched a €150m tap and RCI Banque a £250m sterling three year – but neither managed to tighten pricing from their initial thoughts.

Vallourec, the French oil and gas pipeline maker, issued a €500m 10 year bond on Tuesday after building a book of €3.1bn, despite a jittery day for the equity market.

Sales of shares in French electrical equipment supplier Rexel and liquid natural gas firm GTT on Monday night showed the cautious approach that many investors are taking in the fourth quarter. Investors quickly and strongly supported Rexel’s deal in a large, liquid and well known stock but avoided the more unusual one in GTT, and hedge funds are eschewing their typical tactics.

Vallourec, the French oil and gas pipelines maker, is set to issue a €500m no-grow 10 year bond on Tuesday.

French chemicals company Arkema has proposed a €1.74bn acquisition of adhesives maker Bostik from Total. The company has agreed a €1.5bn bridge facility and its longer term financing plans comprise a rights issue, hybrid capital and senior bonds.

A burst of M&A announcements early this week from Danish national phone carrier TDC, auto parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen in Germany and French telecoms firm Orange lifted the mood in the western European loans market. But Orange's financing plans, which include hybrid bonds, show that deals may not always lead to loan mandates.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of selected sovereign issuers. Read on to see which are over the 80% mark.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of sovereign issuers, with all of the eurozone periphery comfortably ahead in their programmes despite some wobbles in secondaries over the past month.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of sovereign issuers, with all of the eurozone periphery comfortably ahead in their programmes despite some recent wobbles in secondaries.