Natixis

Santander returned to covered bonds this week with its first deal in nearly two years which, by virtue of its sheer size and duration, was remarkable. The two tranche deal included a 20 year piece that has not been seen in covered bonds for seven years. This was targeted to asset managers and insurers in the private sector — in sharp contrast to many other deals such as a €250m four year tap from LBBW that the Bundesbank mostly bought. The trades rammed home the distortion the European Central Bank's purchase programme (CBPP3) is causing the covered bond market which market makers said had potential to cause considerable mark to market pain.

CNP Assurances benefited from a lack of insurance supply when selling a perpetual tier two deal on Wednesday, setting the stage for other insurers to tap the market over the coming week.

Faurecia, the French car parts manufacturer, has refinanced a €1.15bn undrawn loan facility, hiring 10 banks.

The European Central Bank's covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3) turned relative value upside down this week, with a French deal pricing inside a similar Swedish offering, among a crop of four new issues.

Natixis posted solid third quarter results on Wednesday, with a 21% rise in net income, partly driven by bigger asset management revenues, but its capital markets business dropped sharply year on year.

Though everyone in the European bond market knew Apple’s long-awaited debut was coming today, Société des Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône was not deterred from launching a big deal of its own on the same day.

For the first time the European Central Bank waded into the primary market for covered bonds for its third purchase programme (CBPP3) this week, as eurozone issuers from the currency bloc’s core and periphery returned after a long hiatus. The central bank’s buying may not be so good for core issuers but the evidence so far suggests peripheral names who have been locked out are about to bask in its largesse.

Louis Dreyfus — Geberit — Heathrow — Arkema

Louis Dreyfus Commodities is refinancing a loan facility raised in December 2011, reducing the amount from $800m to $600m.

French chemicals company Arkema has closed the syndication of the €1.5bn bridge facility for its €1.74bn acquisition of Bostik.

Arkema, the French chemicals company, launched its hybrid bond issue successfully on Thursday, having decided to press ahead with the deal despite market conditions that are much less favourable for higher risk deals than in September.

YIT — EuropaCorp — Notemachine