German Sovereign

NRW.Bank was well subscribed for its inaugural Sonia-linked floating rate note on Tuesday, with the books closing just one hour after opening.

NRW.Bank has picked a syndicate of three banks to lead its inaugural Sonia-linked floating rate note, as it looks to become the second German agency to issue a public trade in the format.

French agency SNCF Réseau steamed on to screens on Tuesday with initial pricing thoughts for a tap of its December 2047 green bond.

While it is no surprise that a public sector borrower has brought the first floating rate note linked to the euro short term rate (€STR), it was a surprise that a small German agency would bring the inaugural transaction, especially as it is some weeks before the European Central Bank (ECB) is due to begin publishing the recommended new risk-free rate.

The European Investment Bank and Nordic Investment Bank kept the strong momentum going in the SSA euro bond market on Wednesday, capitalising on the European Central Bank’s announcement of fresh stimulus last week and a lack of issuance over the summer. However, Joint Laender's deal was only just oversubscribed, which the leads attributed to investors’ hesitance to buy a negative yielding 10 year bond from a less liquid name.

L-Bank is preparing to issue a floating rate note linked to €STR, the recommended new risk-free rate in euros which the European Central Bank will begin publishing on October 2.

KfW and Bpifrance were the first public sector borrowers out of the blocks in euros following last Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting in which it unleashed its new comprehensive stimulus package.

Erste Abwicklungsanstalt and NRW.Bank both had a boost on Monday after S&P upgraded their credit ratings a notch, following an upgrade to the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

SSA issuers turned towards niche currencies this week to meet a range of demand across the Australian and Canadian dollar curves. KfW and the Asian Development Bank started the week printing in Australian dollars, before the World Bank joined them in the currency while also returning to the Maple market.

The Asian Development Bank hopped on to screens on Tuesday to print a new 10.5 year green Kangaroo bond. Demand for longer dated Kangaroo bonds has been muted recently, leading to smaller transaction sizes. So introducing a green label helped the ADB feel “comfortable” with achieving its minimum issuance size, said Anthony Ruschpler, treasury specialist at the ADB in Manila.

The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), made its Uzbekistani som debut this week to take advantage of funds flowing into EM currencies thanks to low rates in dollars. Elsewhere, euro investors are looking at the ultra-long end of the SSA market.

Issuance is starting to resume after the summer break; however, this week a booming public market drew away investor and issuer attention from MTNs. Despite this, a range of established SSA, FIG and corporate borrowers have slipped in, with deals across core, niche and EM currencies.