Germany

Hannover Re gave away a bit of premium for a new tier two this week, after it touched on the lower bound of the spreads available in the market for insurance capital.

Two more bankers have ditched NordLB to take on DCM roles at Helaba, as the firm looks to expand its covered bond business.

German biotechnology company BioNTech has raised $225m via a private placement led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, amid growing investor appetite for biotech investments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A worsening in credit conditions has squeezed some borrowers across EMEA out of syndicated loans and into the bilateral market. As syndicated loans bankers face another year of disappointing figures, market players are split over whether this trend will leave a more permanent dent in volumes. Mariam Meskin and Jon Hay report.

The coming months are crucial in determining how ambitious the European Union will be in decarbonising its economy to fight climate change over the next decade.

LEG Immobilien, the German residential landlord, has raised €823m via the sale of new shares and convertible bonds to fund the acquisition of new properties amid heightened investor interest in the sector.

The second slice of the ThyssenKrupp Elevator financing hit the market on Wednesday, with €4bn of bonds announced across secured and unsecured tranches in dollars and euros, joining the €3bn of loans earlier this week as part of the package to fund Europe’s largest LBO in a decade.

Banks are hoping that there will be more European primary capital raising in the weeks ahead as companies begin to assess what will be needed to rebuild their balance sheets and whether the time is ripe for growth. A €341m share trade in German firm CompuGroup Medical on Monday night may show a way forward for issuers.

NRW.Bank has mandated banks to arrange a series of virtual fixed income meetings as it looks to present its new social bond framework to investors ahead of a debut deal in the format.

German billionaire Heinz-Herman Thiele, one of the country’s richest men, sold a €728m stake in German break manufacturer Knorr-Bremse to fund other investments. Since Covid-19 he has built up a substantial position in German airline Lufthansa and is now the company's largest shareholder.

Investors appeared to be more sensitive of price movements in new issues of covered bonds this week, with valuations in the asset class having returned to within touching distance of their January levels.

The IPO of PharmaSGP, the German manufacture of natural drugs and medicines, was a smaller affair than had been originally envisaged by the sellers, after the return of equity market volatility meant that the deal had to be priced at the bottom of the range.