Société Générale

European banks have already made stellar progress in working through their issuance programmes in 2017, shifting emphasis on to those with shortfalls or ‘strategic trades’ left to complete.

Société Générale has opened the books for the Paris flotation of ALD, its car leasing business, which if completed, will be the largest French IPO since asset manager Amundi went public in November 2015 for €1.6bn.

Bond markets are performing well and proving safe from external political and macroeconomic factors. Borrowers are therefore likely to continue moving more of their funding into the bond markets. Societe Generale CIB suggests 10 things that issuers from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) should bear in mind and emphasise to capital markets investors, if they want to negotiate the best financing terms.

Over the past 30 years, derivatives have been a force for good. Their practical application allows for more risk mitigation, yield enhancement and contingency planning, making financial markets work better.

For the second time this year Norilsk Nickel tried to push its luck with pricing, only to find that investors would not support it through to the tight end of guidance.

Rating (expected): BBB-

Barclays has sold more than half its stake in Barclays Africa, its separately listed South African subsidiary formerly known as Absa Bank, through a huge R37.7bn ($2.9bn) block trade on Wednesday night that was covered in 45 minutes.

Corporate bond issuance in Europe slowed to a trickle on Thursday after a gush of trades on Wednesday, as investors said they were growing increasingly tired of the recently popular execution method of offering a chunky spread at initial price thoughts, only to tighten markedly by final pricing.

Norilsk Nickel had taken a book of $1.4bn for its new April 2022 and looked to be on track to print with its lowest coupon ever as it makes use of the seemingly unstoppable bid for emerging market assets.

Latvia launched a €350m dual tranche tap of its 2026 and 2036 bonds on Thursday morning, its second visit to the international markets this year.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank’s first ever affordable housing bond raised €2bn across two tranches on Wednesday. One banker on the deal said he was “certain other borrowers will issue more like this”.

France’s Crédit Agricole was looking to sell non-preferred senior notes in yen this week, following closely behind a similar deal from its compatriot Société Générale.