Deutsche Bank

European banks no longer really have to think about building up layers of additional tier one debt. All of the focus has shifted to managing and refreshing this capital layer, and taking full advantage of a ferocious hunt for yield. Tyler Davies reports

Deutsche Bank has told investors that its investment bank is back on track. Cutting costs will be a crucial part of reaching growth targets. But after so many false starts, can it really be that simple, asks David Rothnie.

Investors gobbled up a high yield bond offering by US plastic packaging company Berry on Thursday, encouraging the company to increase the size twice, eventually reaching over €1bn. Berry is the only speculative grade company to issue a major bond this week in Europe, as most issuers stayed away from a market anxious about the UK general election.

Analysts at Commerzbank have criticised Markit for excluding Deutsche Bank’s innovative conditional passthrough covered bond from the iBoxx index for covered bonds. They believe the decision is “technically difficult to justify” and could discourage other banks from embracing new formats.

Activity is set to heat up in the additional tier one (AT1) bond market in 2020, with as many as 22 bonds approaching their first call dates. Market participants appear confident that conditions will allow banks to refinance and incentivise them to do so.

Wynn Macau, a hotel and casino resort, raised $1bn from its bond return on Tuesday, surpassing expectations on both size and price.

Deutsche Bank laid out its strategy for its investment bank at an investor "Deep Dive" event on Tuesday. As part of a plan to boost the return on tangible equity, it is focusing on cutting costs in the back office and raising revenues in financing and origination.

Another packaging company is hunting for better financing terms in the issuer-friendly European high yield bond market. Berry Global follows companies such as Crown, Ball, Smurfit Kappa, Owen-Illinois and Ardagh with an ambitious refinancing that could be priced as early as Thursday — the day of the UK general election.

Christian Berendes will head up Deutsche Bank’s government and regulatory affairs department from next year, after being promoted internally.

The Netherlands’ Prosus has raised its takeover offer for food delivery firm Just Eat to around £5.1bn. It has brought in a host of banks to finance the bridge facility, but the boss of opposing bidder Takeaway.com called Prosus' bid “derisory”.

Roland Domann has joined Nomura to look after the asset and liability management and insurance solutions structuring team focusing on European pension fund and insurance clients.

Bank issuers led a flurry of dollar bond deals this week, as they dashed to wrap up funding before year end and ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s final meeting of 2019.