Société Générale

Italy and the Province of Québec will add to the euro public sector supply on Thursday, hoping to capitalise on the strong momentum in the currency following the European Union’s record order book earlier in the week.

Société Générale has appointed Yasmine Djeddai as head of sustainable finance for Asia Pacific, a newly created position set up to leverage opportunities around environmental, social and governance-related financing in the region.

FIG borrowers may be well funded, but rates are low and market conditions are good enough to support opportunistic issuance — as was shown this week by a slate of deals across the capital structure. Given a volatile end to 2020 is likely, issuers will need to stay alert and take advantage of funding windows as they arise, write Frank Jackman and Bill Thornhill.

High grade corporate bond investors had their pick of crossover deals this week, with Inwit, Veolia and Cellnex offering trades on the periphery of junk ratings, with demand solid as risk appetite remains strong.

Enel, the Italian energy company, printed the first sustainability-linked bond in sterling this week well through its curve, sparking expectations of far wider issuance in the still fledgling market.

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) took advantage of a strong market on Wednesday to issue its first ever benchmark transaction for pre-funding purposes.

Veolia, the French water and waste company, and Spanish telecoms infrastructure firm Cellnex were out with crossover rated debt on Wednesday, giving investment grade corporate investors a double chance to pick up spreads at the higher end of their remit.

Enel, the Italian energy company, proved that there is sterling demand for sustainability-linked bonds on Tuesday, with the borrower repeating its achievement in dollars and euros by creating the market in the currency.

Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale (Cades) will add a new point on its dollar social bond curve with a 10 year trade on Wednesday, where it will be joined by two other public sector issuers in the currency.

Enel, the Italian power and gas company, is set to push the nascent sustainability-linked bond market to a new currency this week after the company mandated for the first deal in the format in sterling.

Rating: Aa2/AA

Europe’s high grade corporate issuers secured another day of bulging order books on Wednesday, as concerns about scant primary supply to come washed away investor jitters about a collapsed $2.2tr fiscal stimulus deal in the US.