Société Générale

Estonia returned to the capital markets on Wednesday after 18 years away, introducing itself to a new set of investors as an SSA borrower.

Renault, the French car company, has arranged an up to €5bn short-term credit facility backed by its government, as fierce complaints have followed similar guarantees in other industries.

Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, flattened its curve on Tuesday with a €3.5bn three tranche bond issue that commanded €15.1bn of demand. But European syndicate bankers said it offered no read-across for whether airlines might return to the bond market soon and that their chances of doing a deal were distant.

Barry Callebaut, the Franco-Belgian chocolate maker now registered in Switzerland, launched a Schuldschein on Tuesday offering investors tenors "upon request" alongside two, five and eight year maturities. Robert Bosch did that too, when it reopened the market last month. This is a feature that arrangers say will increase in a post Covid world.

Uralkali, the Russian potash fertiliser producer, signed a $665m pre-export facility (PXF) with a consortium of international banks, as lenders say that Russian borrowers seeking funding are finding pricing remains the main point of contention with lenders.

Neoen, the French solar and wind energy producer, has issued the first green convertible bond in Europe — and investors’ eager reception of the deal suggests these instruments could be as popular in the equity-linked market as they have become in the straight bond market.

BBVA surprised market participants by becoming the first bank to issue a Covid-19 response bond in Europe this week. There will be follow-on deals as the format catches on in credit markets — high grade corporates are looking to do deals too — but it is unlikely to be exploited as widely as it has been in the SSA market. David Freitas and Mike Turner report.

Corporate bond investors piled into the three environmental, social and governance trades on screens this week, as bankers said the focus in the high grade market is shifting from crisis mode back to socially responsible debt.

Rating: Aa2/AA/AA

France impressed as it received a record €51bn order book and paid a small new issue premium with its first syndication since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sovereign was joined in the long end of the curve this week by two sub-sovereign borrowers as investor appetite for duration grows, with more supply expected to follow.

Tendam, a fashion retailer, is the latest Spanish company to get syndicated loan backing from state-owned Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), as sectors hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic lean on state support.

Société Générale SFH has issued a second Obligations de Financement de l’Habitat (OFH) deal as a security token using a protocol that can be fully integrated with other blockchains and, for the first time, was settled using the Banque de France’s newly developed digital currency and structured with industry-aligned smart contracts.