German Sovereign

KfW was the only public sector borrower in the primary market on Monday, raising $1bn with a March 2021 intra-day trade which was priced with the same coupon as the World Bank’s 10 year dollar deal earlier this month.

Instituto de Crédito Oficial (Ico) and Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) found strong demand in the short end of the euro curve on Wednesday, which SSA bankers are calling the new sweet spot, despite the deeply negative yields.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

Investors jumped on the opportunity to buy euro bonds with a positive yield in the public sector market this week as KfW and Kommunalbanken sold 15 and 10 year bonds respectively, with the latter returning to the currency for a benchmark for the first time since 2017.

German agency KfW revisited the Norwegian krone market yet again on Tuesday to place its 15th trade of the year in the currency. The deal brings KfW’s Nokkie issuance up to a record Nkr17bn ($1.9bn) for the year to date, according to Dealogic, Nkr250m more than its previous 2011 record.

Investors pounced on the opportunity to buy a bond with a positive yield in the euro market by KfW on Tuesday. Elsewhere, the Asian Development Bank drew strong demand to sell its biggest ever green bond in euros following its debut in 2018.

Rating: Aa1/AA/AAA

German tyre manufacturer Continental rolled into the market on Wednesday, one week after it priced its debut floater in the MTN market last week. The manufacturer had enjoyed several years away from the capital markets, before returning in September with a series of public deals. Elsewhere, political events in Turkey have left lira issuance surrounded in “uncertainty.”

The Inter-American Development Bank and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia only managed to raise small sizes in the sterling market on Tuesday, with the leads on the latter declining to comment on whether the deal was fully subscribed.

The State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Land NRW) mandated banks on Monday for its debut Sonia-linked floating rate note, following its compatriot NRW.Bank, which sold its first trade in the format last week. The region has also decided to no longer use money market instruments for funding and liquidity management.

Corporate, FIG and SSA issuers placed floating rate notes this week, pegged to Euribor, Sonia and Libor. With so many issuers coming to market, bankers are interested to see which other borrowers 'take advantage of the liquidity'.

Germany is considering four options for its first green or sustainable bond issue, which is likely to come next year. But this will not mean an increase in borrowing — Germany will finance its climate change investments with taxes.