BNP Paribas was this morning set to sell a £400m (€572m) bond to help fund its €9bn ($11bn) cash bid for Italian retail bank Banca Nazionale del Lavoro.

The French investment bank yesterday sold a €750m subordinated bond as part of the financing for the acquisition. The tier one bond, the closest form of debt to equity, was priced at a spread of 69 basis points over mid-swaps, a benchmark for corporate borrowing.