Natixis

Crédit Agricole has moved one of its sustainable banking specialists to Asia, hoping to capitalise on what it expects to be a growing market for green bonds.

On Wednesday French toll road operator Autoroutes du Sud de la France followed the path its compatriot Orange had taken on Tuesday by issuing a €1bn 12 year new issue. Meanwhile Italian auto finance bank FCA Bank was also in the market with its first benchmark floating rate note.

The euro market is providing borrowers with superb execution — KfW gathered its largest ever book for a 10 year on Tuesday — but investors are requiring healthy new issue concessions in order to commit.

Italian electricity supplier Enel sold its second green bond on Tuesday, repeating the timing of its first such offering in 2017, which it also sold in the second week of the year. The latest deal was the same size, but priced tighter and won a larger order book, despite printing with a longer maturity.

KfW and Dexia Crédit Local are first out the blocks in what looks set to be a busy euro market for public sector borrowers this week.

A $5.5bn senior secured loan to refinance China National Chemical Corp’s (ChemChina) outstanding debt has been launched into general syndication by 16 mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Ireland is set to become the first SSA borrower of 2018 to print a syndicated bond, picking banks for a benchmark deal to be sold on Wednesday. The German state of Lower Saxony will also come to market on Wednesday.

Marguerite Bérard-Andrieu is leaving BPCE, having been chief executive for a year and a half. The bank's board has appointed François Riahi to replace her, from the new year.

Natixis is expanding its multi-boutique model M&A model to steal a march on its domestic rivals, writes David Rothnie.

Natixis has appointed Chaoni Huang as a director of green and sustainable solutions for Asia Pacific, according to a Monday press release.

Natixis has signed a five year strategic alliance with Oddo BHF, the Franco-German brokerage. They will combine their equity trading and capital markets businesses, in a move triggered by the arrival of MiFID II in January 2018.

Investor support for leveraged loan deals where the issuer is only seeking to cut margins remains so strong that some borrowers, such as French real estate group Foncia, may do it twice this year.