German Sovereign

Merck KGaA, the pharmaceuticals company based in Darmstadt, has obtained bridge financing for its $17bn (€13bn) acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich. The final funding structure comprises cash and debt only: around €2bn of cash on Merck’s balance sheet, €4bn of bank loans and €7bn of bonds.

SAP has agreed to acquire Concur, the US travel and expenses software provider, for $8.3bn. To fund the deal, the German IT company has signed a €7bn credit facility and obtained its first credit rating.

A burst of M&A announcements early this week from Danish national phone carrier TDC, auto parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen in Germany and French telecoms firm Orange lifted the mood in the western European loans market. But Orange's financing plans, which include hybrid bonds, show that deals may not always lead to loan mandates.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of selected sovereign issuers. Read on to see which are over the 80% mark.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank is set to sell a $1.5bn three year benchmark at the tight end of initial price thoughts — a level through its curve, according to one of the leads. Finnvera priced a straight five year having revised its maturity from a January 2020 announced on Monday.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

The German State of North Rhine-Westphalia capitalised on a bid for duration, despite a steady trickle of supply from German states in euros over the summer break, to print a long 10 year deal at a level leads said was in line with fair value on Tuesday.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of sovereign issuers, with all of the eurozone periphery comfortably ahead in their programmes despite some wobbles in secondaries over the past month.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

Eurozone periphery sovereigns enjoyed a boon ahead of bill auctions next week, as their spreads tightened versus Bunds on Thursday morning — despite German yields hitting record lows — following miserable growth revealed in second quarter GDP data for the currency bloc.

The State of Lower Saxony priced a €500m eight year through swaps on Monday. Other Laender are likely to follow as they look to pick up funding at attractive levels through small syndications and taps over the summer, according to a DCM banker based in Germany.