Europe's high-yield bond market is moving out of the shadow of its bigger US cousin and becoming a global force. The development of the market is good news for Europe's economy as it seeks to rely less on bank financing—although investors might wonder whether it still deserves the "high-yield" label.

French cable operator Numericable Wednesday sold a record $10.9 billion of high-yield bonds to help fund the acquisition of telecoms business SFR from Vivendi. The deal was only part of a bigger $21.8 billion funding package of loans and bonds, including a chunky $5.8 billion from parent group Altice, that drew orders of $100 billion from global investors.