
France's inaugural issuance of a "European defence bond" to raise €1 billion for the country's defence companies was massively oversubscribed, with two-thirds of investors coming from outside its borders.
The bonds, due to mature in five years, received strong support, with a final order book exceeding €3.8 billion — nearly four times the value on offer, France's public sector investment bank (Bpirance) said in a statement.