Natixis

Several public sector borrowers tapped the socially responsible investment (SRI) market this week, with more deals expected in February, before what many analysts expect will be a record year for the asset class.

Bpifrance rode a wave of booming market sentiment following a dovish US Federal Reserve meeting on Thursday to sell its joint largest ever single issue, after originally aiming for a minimum size that was just a third of the amount it ended up printing.

Chinese automobile retailer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has returned for a €1.4bn dual-tranche facility to refinance a bridge loan raised last year for its purchase of a share in Swedish truck maker AB Volvo.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank was over three times covered for a 10 year affordable housing bond on Wednesday, allowing it to tighten multiple times during pricing to leave no concession, according to on-looking bankers. Meanwhile, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has appointed banks to arrange a roadshow in Europe and Asia for a long dated euro sustainability bond.

Stéphane Morin will step up from his current job as global head of compliance at Natixis in order to become deputy CEO for the Americas corporate and investment banking division. And he will report to Olivier Delay, announced as the new CEO of that department earlier this year.

Egypt is revamping its capital markets presence, lining up a debut in the green bond market, a first deal in an Asian currency, and dollar and euro benchmarks all by the end of its fiscal year in June.

French hotel company Accor launched new hybrid and senior bond issues on Thursday after announcing the deals at the end of last week. The new deals finance tender offers for some of the company’s existing hybrid and senior notes.

French supermarket chain Auchan attracted plenty of demand for its third consecutive January new issue but it had to pay a hefty new issue premium to ensure the deal got done. The supermarket sector is one of several retail sectors priming investors for poor annual results.

New issuance returned to the corporate bond market on Tuesday as Auchan and Vonovia attracted €8bn of demand for their new deals after two days without any trades. The new issuance spreads they paid differed markedly however.

Leveraged finance markets in Europe are looking up, and bankers expect they may even see some deals priced before long.

Rating: Aa3/AA/AA-

Guarantor: Kingdom of Belgium (51.41%), Republic of France (45.59%) and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (3%)