Natixis

The State of Brandenburg will keep the primary euro public sector bond market ticking on Tuesday after mandating banks for a new 20 year bond for which it hopes to achieve a better outcome than Berlin's deal at the tenor last week.

STMicroelectronics, the French-Italian semiconductor maker, has raised $1.5bn through the sale of new convertible bonds, the company said on Tuesday.

Wordline, the French payments company, has returned to the equity-linked market to sell a new five-year €600m convertible bond at a negative yield.

Russian steel producer Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has raised a €600m syndicated loan, as experts say that the continued presence of Russians in the market during the crisis is down to the resilience they were forced to acquire after years of sanctions.

Fives, the French industrial equipment group, has signed a €200m loan backed by the state, as government-backed facilities continue to prove essential to tackling the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

UniCredit attracted plenty of demand for a €1.25bn sale of non-preferred senior debt in euros on Wednesday, as issuers took advantage of strong funding conditions ahead of the summer period.

Insurance companies saw a favourable window of opportunity this week to sell subordinated debt. Assicurazioni Generali, Crédit Agricole Assurances and CCR Re benefited from the supportive backdrop to raise tier two bonds.

Bankinter continued the additional tier one (AT1) supply spree on Thursday, becoming the third issuer to launch this type of bond this week and receiving praise for the 6.25% coupon it achieved.

Sodexo, the French food service and facilities management firm, saw bumper demand for its €1bn no-grow dual-tranche bond issue on Wednesday, a day after it reported a 30% drop in revenue, and weeks after it shocked the US private placement (PP) market by saying it would repay around $1.6bn of debt early as it could do better in other financing markets.

CCR Re, the French reinsurer, debuted in the bond market with a tier two on Wednesday, executing a strong transaction on the back of intensive investor engagement combined with favourable market conditions.

Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), which is in the market to refinance a one year $1.3bn loan facility signed in September, is facing troubles according to bankers on the deal, contrary to comments recently made by its chief executive.

TCL Technology Group Co sold its maiden dollar bond on Tuesday, getting a 10 times oversubscribed book at its peak thanks to a standby letter of credit (SBLC) from Bank of China.