In recent quarters, non-financial corporate bonds "continued to be concentrated in a few countries, notably France, Italy and Germany, where these placements have shown a much greater dynamism than bank loans". The ECB writes it in a study contained in the April Monthly Bulletin.
Although net issuance of debt securities continues to be vigorous, the overall flow of external financing to businesses in the euro area "remains weak". In all countries, underlines the ECB, "access to the debt securities markets is, to a large extent, limited to large companies".
Moreover, the share of external financing of firms is still low, although it has increased since the beginning of 2000. The holdings of debt securities issued directly by firms "were in fact just under 4% of the total liabilities of these firms in the third quarter of 2013, while in the first quarter of 2000 they were slightly above 2%”.
In Austria, Finland, Portugal and France “the share of debt securities issued directly by firms in their total liabilities was significantly higher than the euro area average, ranging between 6,5% and 8,5% in the third quarter of 2013. Also in Luxembourg and Italy this same share, which has grown over the last six years, has risen slightly or marginally above the area average”.
In conclusion, the predominance of debt placement flows "is attributable to issuers from countries least affected by financial tensions and large companies with high ratings".
