Natixis

Demand was robust for floating rate paper on Tuesday as Commonwealth Bank of Australia sold its first deal of 2015 and Caisse Centrale Desjardins du Quebec (CCDJ) returned to the senior unsecured euro market after an absence of almost five years.

Telecom Italia, Italy’s largest telecommunications operator, on Monday brought to the high yield market the first €1bn issue of the year, as part of a plan to repay slices of four other bonds.

Gecina, the French real estate investment trust, issued a €500m 10 year bond on Monday, attracting a vast order book and paying a small new issue premium.

A week before the European Central Bank is expected to announce a programme of quantitative easing and Greece elects its next president, investors are loading up on senior unsecured paper from top names in FIG, and being paid big new issue premiums. Investors are demanding more in part because of fears of volatility in coming weeks stemming from the ECB and Greece, bankers said.

Danone, the French foods group, became the first European corporate bond issuer of 2015 on Wednesday, and attracted exceptionally strong demand for a €550m five year floating rate note and a €750m 10 year fixed rate bond.

A consortium of ten banks has signed an HK$4.46bn triple tranche facility for CVC sponsored Hong Kong Broadband Network. The loan received much attention when agent JP Morgan first started sounding out banks, as some bankers felt it was too aggressively structured and with too loose covenants.

French engineering and construction services firm Spie this week cut margins on its €625m 4.5m year bullet term loan E and let another bank onto its arranging ticket.

French investment company Wendel issued a €200m tap of its October 2024 bond on Wednesday, and has reduced the amount of its revolving credit facilities.

Publicis, the French PR and advertising firm, issued €1.2bn of bonds on Tuesday, equally split between seven and 10 year tranches. The proceeds will be used to fund its acquisition of US marketing and consultancy company Sapient.

Natixis is hoping to play a more active role in the Asian debt market through the hiring of Kin Liu who will be part of the bank’s origination team in Hong Kong.

Moody’s has downgraded the corporate rating of Spie, the French engineering and communications services firm, from B1 to B2 in response to a €2bn refinancing exercise.

Gunvor International and Gunvor SA, subsidiaries of Gunvor Group, have signed a $1bn revolving credit facility with a syndicate of 25 banks, down from 38 on its $1.5bn loan a year ago.