Société Générale

Erste Bank’s Croatian subsidiary will sell its first euro denominated preferred senior note next week, which it will count towards its minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

A smattering of smaller euro issuers made the most of an attractive window this week, as they looked to use the stable conditions to take “some risk off the table” ahead of the summer break.

The blockchain firsts in capital markets are coming quickly. DZ Bank is marketing a corporate Schuldschein that will run back office functions on a blockchain for the entire duration of the trade — the first time this has been done — while Société Générale’s subsidiary Forge is working on various permutations of trades to be issued using this form of distributed ledger technology. While blockchain tech is still in its infancy, it is set to disrupt capital markets, creating winners and losers.

European companies piled into the bond market on Wednesday with a variety of deals that favoured duration, as buoyant sentiment returned after being sapped by the US Federal Reserve last week.

Orange, the French telecoms company, launched €1.5bn of conventional bonds in two tranches on Wednesday, as the company’s group treasurer said he was waiting for the sustainability-linked bond market to mature before joining the quickly growing debt niche.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) sold the first public 20 year dollar bond from a FIG issuer from the country this week — potentially paving the way for other borrowers to also opt for the same tenor. Morgan Davis reports.

Senior and covered bond plans were flowing into the deal pipeline on Monday, with issuers keen to buck the softer tone and print before the start of the summer break.

Rating: Aa2/—/AA

Rating: A2/—

Naturgy Energy, the Spanish gas and electricity utility, has doubled the size of its revolving credit facility in an amend and extend exercise, the latest demonstration that the balance of power in the loan market remains firmly on the side of the borrowers.

Unédic hit the market on Wednesday with a €2bn 15 year social benchmark, entering the market as the ripples from Tuesday's €20bn Next Generation EU bond print settled.

Turkey's Akbank launched a dollar sustainable bond on Tuesday, just months after it raised its first ESG-linked syndicated loan.