German Sovereign

A global equity sell-off mid-week caused some jitters among bankers covering a live Kommunalbanken dollar deal on Wednesday, but the nervousness proved unfounded as the trade came through to acclaim. The deal was typical in a week where SSAs priced tight and with big books despite choppy wider markets.

SSAs are enjoying strong conditions in dollars, with KfW and the Province of Ontario finding plentiful demand on Wednesday despite bringing deals that on-looking bankers said were “pretty much” in line with secondaries. Kommunalbanken will price a dollar benchmark on Thursday that leads said was following a similar pattern.

KfW and the Province of Ontario will hit separate parts of the dollar curve on Wednesday, with the former circulating what one on-looking banker described as “punchy” price thoughts. The deals followed a well-received floating rate note from a German Land that doubled in size.

A senior fixed income syndicate banker at UniCredit has retired, GlobalCapital understands. Bankers at rival firms hailed him as “a true original and a character”.

NRW.Bank and Unédic drew solid results in the latest BondMarker scores, with the French agency just pipping the German issuer with its overall average.

Public sector borrowers snapped up cut price deals in the private markets this week, helping to quell trades in the benchmark sector.

A shift in the euro/dollar basis swap means more euro funders could look at dollars, according to SSA bankers. Upcoming Asian holidays are likely to jumbo deals, but there could be room for smaller, cheaper names — with one of those issuers getting a rampant reception this week.

Guarantor: Federal State of North Rhine‑Westphalia

NRW.Bank nipped in ahead of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting to tap keen investor interest in dollars on Wednesday, pricing a deal that on-looking bankers said was flat to its curve.

NRW.Bank hit screens on Tuesday for its first dollar benchmark of the year, ahead of what will be a closely watched Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Koos Timmermans, the outgoing chief financial officer of Dutch bank ING, will be stepping down from his role as the chairman of the working group on euro risk-free rates, according to a European Central Bank (ECB) spokesperson.

IDB Invest hit screens for a three year dollar bond on Monday, as the pipeline for the currency grew for the final quarter.