Paris-based building materials company Saint-Gobain has appointed JP Morgan as an underwriter on a planned €1.5bn ($1.8bn) rights issue, handing the US bank its second lucrative role on a European capital raising within the property and construction sectors this week.

JP Morgan and French investment banks BNP Paribas and Calyon will fully underwrite the €1.5bn rights issue announced today by Saint-Gobain, which supplies construction materials such as cement.