By Ronan Martin and Abraham Gonzalez | Updated on Oct 06, 2026 at 04:41 PM
Air Liquide SA attracted strong demand for a sale of euro-denominated bonds, with investors buying the debt at lower yields than French government bonds caught up in the country’s fiscal and political turmoil.
The industrial-gas maker drew around €12.5 billion ($14 billion) of investor orders for the €2 billion offering consisting of a two-year floating-rate note as well as five and 10-year fixed-rate tranches, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Pricing for the two fixed-rate issues printed below the curve of French government bonds, or OATs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That suggests that investors see the debt of Air Liquide — which has a strong international revenue base — as more attractive than the country’s sovereign debt.
Bonds issued by French companies with a global footprint “can trade through OAT, and so they should if there is OAT distress because that’s not going to be the biggest driver of their corporate earnings at all,” said Edward Farley, head of European investment grade corporate bonds at PGIM Ltd.
Read: Bonds Enter Era With Corporates Safer Than Powerful Nations
French government bonds have experienced a punitive selloff in recent months after plans to narrow the deficit this year veered off course, while the country’s fiscal watchdog said that economic assumptions in the 2027 draft budget are “optimistic.” Compounding the pressure, recent polling for next year’s presidential election indicates it may come down to a second-round runoff between far-right front-runner Marine Le Pen and far-left rival Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The European bond market saw some respite today, with French government debt leading a broader rally after Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the country is far from needing the European Central Bank to step in. At the same time, Marine Le Pen proposed · bringing the country’s deficit below 3% of GDP by 2032 in an ambitious new fiscal plan.
Pricing for Air Liquide’s bonds, which were sold through a financing entity, tightened through the day, with the floating-rate notes cut to 35 basis points above three-month Euribor, the person familiar said, asking not to be identified. Pricing for the five-year bond tightened to 65 basis points over mid-swaps, while the 10-year tranche priced at 95 basis points over, they added.
The company’s five-year debt will yield 4.121% compared to five-year OATs yielding 4.145%, Bloomberg calculations show. The difference is larger for the ten year notes, which will yield 4.518% versus 4.747% for ten-year French government bonds.
The Air Liquide bonds are expected to be rated A2 by Moody’s, two notches below France’s Aa3 sovereign rating, and A by S&P, one notch below the sovereign’s A+. France is also rated A+ by Fitch.
The offering comes after Air Liquide unveiled an ambitious capital allocation plan including plans to buy back €4 billion worth of shares through 2028 and widen margins, addressing key investor concerns as it faces pressure from Elliott Investment Management.
Barclays Plc, BBVA SA, Bank of America Corp., CIC, Citigroup Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc and IMI Intesa Sanpaolo SpA were bookrunners for the deal.