Société Générale

France plans to forge ahead with tapping its debut Green OAT rather than introducing new SRI lines, despite some investors calling for a shorter dated alternative. Craig McGlashan and Lewis McLellan report.

German construction firm Hochtief opted for a €500m no-grow deal when it came to market for the first time as a rated company this week. The company gained a BBB rating from Standard & Poor’s in May 2017.

British oil and gas company BP returned to the European corporate bond markets on Thursday for the first time in a year. Two euro tranches came twelve months after the company’s last euro offering, and a sterling tranche was its first in its domestic currency since August 2016.

Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) has sold its first dollar bond of the year, opting for a Formosa transaction in Taiwan.

A green bond and a conventional bond both hit the euro market on Wednesday. While neither aimed for size, the pricing action showed much hotter demand for the green offering.

Spain’s Masmovil has completed a second round of refinancing on its bank loans, shaving a further 100bp off the cost of its total debt pile and ramping up the size to €831m.

France sold its first syndicated tap on Tuesday, adding €4bn to its GrOAT line. The sovereign will be followed in the green market by a Danish agency's sophomore offering.

Two euro borrowers launched benchmarks on Wednesday, sharing the SSA euro market. While both secured successful deals, one found the market tougher going, as investors pushed back.

France is set to revisit the SRI market, announcing a syndicated tap of its June 2039 Green OAT, or GrOAT. The deal will follow a German agency's annual green bond.

Ghana Coco Board (Cocobod) has closed the senior syndication of its $1.3bn one year annual pre-export finance facility, with a bank meeting due to be held on Monday, June 25.

Chu Kong Petroleum and Natural Gas Steel Pipe Holdings has entered into a standstill period for a $72m bond that was due earlier this year.

Equity-linked investors got a second opportunity this week to buy new European paper when Soitec, the French maker of semiconductor materials, hit the market on Thursday with a €150m five year convertible bond.