Natixis

Sociedade Nacional De Combustiveis De Angola (Sonangol) has completed a lengthy loan syndication for a $1bn five year loan, with Chinese banks taking big tickets, according to a banker on the deal.

Laboratoire Français du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies (LFB), the French biopharmaceutical company, announced on Tuesday that it had raised a €124m Euro private placement, as the Euro PP market gathers pace, according to bankers.

The exceptionally advantageous terms issuers can get in the convertible market — and the product’s appeal to the bluest of blue chip names — were highlighted again on Thursday when LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the French luxury goods group, raised $600m at a deeply negative yield.

Concerns over the exodus of real money investors from the covered bond market were put to rest this week as a series of deals met exceptionally strong demand, with the sea change in sentiment being most conspicuous in the French sector.

InVivo's includes all for loan — Safe Bulkers extends

Swedbank and SEB this week launched deals that attracted the largest order books and the widest distribution of any covered bonds issued this year, along with the smallest concessions.

Labeyrie Fine Foods, the French producer of smoked salmon and foie gras, on Wednesday sold a €80m tap of its 2021 secured notes to finance the acquisition of food producers Pére Olive and King Cuisine from Aqualande.

The wave of Chinese acquisitions of Western companies has reached a new peak, with confirmation that state-owned ChemChina has sealed the deal to buy Syngenta, the Swiss agrichemicals and seeds business, for $43bn, as China seeks to secure its food supply.

Bankers say that five years appears to be the right point in euros in a week in which a raft of issuers hit the books.

DCC — SIG — Capital & Regional — Transcom — North Energy

A trio of agencies priced deals on Wednesday after a challenging Tuesday that was impacted by a combination of worrying data from China and low oil prices.

Emirates Global Aluminium has still not completed syndication of its $4.9bn seven year loan facility, despite bankers saying that the deal would have closed before the end of last year.