Société Générale

With most senior bankers and investors now back from holidays, equity capital markets in EMEA have burst into life this week, with the launch of two large capital increases and a sizeable state block trade in Engie.

The belly of the curve appears to be the favoured spot in euros, with the European Financial Stability Facility selling a €3bn November 2022 and Agence Française de Développement announcing that it intends to bring an April 2022 on Wednesday. Further out in the curve, the market is proving less supportive.

Portugal will kick off its funding year with a 10 year euro benchmark, mandating for the deal on Tuesday shortly after announcing its bond issuance target for 2017.

Spanish telecoms provider Telefónica hit the euro market on Tuesday for a dual tranche offering that tested the outer limit of investors’ appetite for long tenors.

BPCE raised its first €1bn of senior non-preferred notes in euros on Tuesday, joining France’s three other global systemically important bank in the fledgling market.

KommuneKredit and Unédic have both pulled off strong trades, getting in ahead of what is expected to be a busy week in euros by coming to market on Monday.

Origin, an electronic platform for private placement issuance, went live on Monday, with six investment banks and more than 20 borrowers having access to the beta version.

Société Générale has hired a senior banker from Bank of America Merrill Lynch to become its head of global banking, investor solutions, coverage and investment banking in Italy.

The potential volume of green bond issues is set to reach the very top of what is possible in the bond market, as the French sovereign this week announced the start of a roadshow for its debut green bond later this month.

Covered bond issuers from Europe’s core accessed the market across a range of intermediate tenors this week with LBBW, Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) and Helaba issuing some of their largest deals in years.

The equity-neutral convertible bond structure that faded from the market in the second half of 2016 made a strong comeback on Thursday, when French tyre maker Michelin launched a $500m deal that won eager demand and was priced at the best end of terms for the issuer, writes Jon Hay.

European financials have found every reason to get into the dollar market early in 2017, leading to a fireworks display of total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) senior deals this week. Though market conditions could not have been better to receive the banks, many will have wanted to squirrel away quantities of funding and capital for what could be another troublesome year in the capital markets.