Commerzbank

The People’s Republic of China has caused a stir among DCM bankers in Asia and Europe with plans to return to the euro bond market for the first time since 2004. While expectations on opposite sides of the world are starkly different, what is clear is that the sovereign’s deal will be less about the pricing itself and more about making a statement. Addison Gong and Burhan Khadbai report.

Gestamp, the Spanish automotive engineering company, has closed its Schuldschein with indications of a final size at about €180m. Market players believe that Spain and Italy may be the next key sources of growth in the years to come.

Germany’s Daimler and the Netherlands’ KPN were out for euro bonds on Wednesday. High grade corporate bond players kept an eagle eye on the trades to see what shape the European Central Bank’s bond buying programme would take this time round.

Germany’s E.On has signed a sustainability-linked syndicated loan, in a deal that moves towards unifying the capital structure of the electricity company after its €20.42bn Innogy acquisition.

Commerzbank, Deutsche Börse and asset manager MEAG have made further progress in adopting blockchain technology in post-trade services.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) met investors this week to discuss a debut sale of additional tier one (AT1) bonds. Changes in regulation are prompting issuers to seek new deals in the asset class to optimise their capital layers.

German home improvement and garden supplies chain Hornbach issued €250m of senior unsecured notes on Thursday, for a coupon of just 3.25%. While the retail sector in general makes investors wary and Germany is lurching towards recession, investors showed confidence in the home improvement market.

After years of whitepapers, R&D and proofs of concept, the long prophesied new age of technology in primary debt capital markets is at long last about to arrive.

Germany’s Deutsche Bahn printed a €2bn dual tranche hybrid trade on Monday, with bankers off the deal heaping accolades on the borrower.

High grade corporate borrowers were quick out of the traps on Monday, cramming in before the blackout period to raise around €5bn-equivalent of bond funding from order books many multiples of that.

UBI Banca launched a €500m non-preferred senior bond this week, supported by orders of €1.4bn at peak, but it had to pay a new issue premium, according to a FIG banker.

Deutsche Bahn, the German railways company, wrapped up a roadshow for a dual tranche hybrid on Thursday, with investors looking at a trio of other issuers from a variety of industries for comparable notes.