Natixis

French firm Fnac will imminently launch syndication of its loan to buy retailer Darty, after winning a bidding war with South Africa's Steinhoff. Meanwhile, banks supplying a £920m loan for the thwarted rival await instructions.

Belgium cracked open its 50 year bond vintage on Thursday with a deal that drew plenty of praise — while the level of demand even surprised some of those working on the trade.

French retailer Fnac will imminently launch syndication of its €1.35bn Darty acquisition loan, according to a banker close to the deal.

Belgium is set to bring a private dabbling in ultra-long debt issuance into the public sphere, as it mandated on Wednesday for a debut 50 year euro benchmark a week after placing its second 100 year medium term note.

UBI Banca became the first Italian lender to print tier two capital this year on Wednesday, laying the foundations for more periphery capital to follow.

Enagás, the Spanish gas transmission and network manager, tapped the European corporate bond market’s taste for 12 year risk on Tuesday with a €750m transaction that was over four times oversubscribed.

Türkiye Vakiflar Bankasi (Vakifbank) brought a load of new faces to its investor base when it issued Turkey’s first publicly syndicated euro benchmark covered bond — at an extremely low cost of funding.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi kept his powder dry at his latest monetary policy meeting on Thursday, sending eurozone government bond yields higher — something that is likely to be welcomed in the offices of the European Stability Mechanism.

Books were several times oversubscribed and new issue premiums often dropped to zero this week, ahead of an ECB move that was widely expected — but everybody is aware that market backlashes do happen.

Vallourec’s €480m rescue rights issue is heading for a successful conclusion on Friday April 22, bankers working on it said this week.

France’s largest property firm, Unibail-Rodamco, issued a €1bn dual tranche bond on Wednesday that included only the third 20 year corporate bond in euros this year.

UBI Banca has begun marketing a tier two transaction, which will be the first capital sale from an Italian bank since January.