Société Générale

Romania has picked four banks from its primary dealer list to lead manage a euro-denominated bond, according to two sources away from the deal.

A loan of up to $1.8bn for Russian telecoms company Vimpelcom has been rushed through signing so quickly that a senior loan banker who had been working on the deal did not know it had been completed.

GDF Suez, the French gas and electricity company, has signed its €5bn early refinancing facility with a syndicate of 25 banks.

La Banque Postale is hitting the road today to meet investors for its planned euro denominated tier two bond, in what could otherwise be a light week for issuance. The bank will roadshow the deal until April 10 before deciding on a sale.

Tullow Oil, the London-listed but Africa-focused oil exploration and production company, has followed up last week's successful bond issue with a $750m refinancing loan.

Caracal Energy, a London-listed oil and gas company, has signed a debut $140m reserve-based senior secured facility to develop its assets in Chad.

Essilor, the French maker of optical lenses and equipment, on Thursday launched its first bond in euros since 1996, adding a 10 year tranche to the main seven year offering as the deal attracted strong demand.

Investors sank their teeth into tier two FIG debt this week, with insurance company NN Group, BBVA and NordLB each hitting the market in an otherwise quiet few days for the market, compared to recent weeks.

Société Générale relaunched a euro additional tier one capital issue last Friday (March 28), after postponing it earlier in the week when it became aware of an rating outlook change from Fitch.

Germany’s three carmakers unleashed a volley of private and niche currency MTNs on Wednesday and Thursday, leading to jostling. Volkswagen was planning to print a note in Norwegian kroner on Thursday, but Daimler beat it to the punch, causing VW to issue in Swedish kronor instead.

The second quarter of the year is looking set for some major landmarks in peripheral eurozone sovereigns’ journey back to market normality, after Portugal outlined details for a return to bond auctions and talk of an imminent benchmark from Greece reached fevered levels.

NIBC Bank returned to the covered bond market this week to launch its second conditional pass-through covered bond (CPTCB). The book suggested that the issuer attracted a greater scale of demand from a wider group of buyers than in its first deal. The growing acceptance of this innovative product at a much tighter spread bodes well for future use of the structure.