Germany

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.

Robert Bosch has joined a rare club to issue €2bn-plus in a single Schuldschein. The A+ rated German car parts supplier re-opened the market with an initial target of €500m. Bankers say the final result is an illustration of the depth of the market for well-rated corporates.

Lenders to Wirecard, the embattled German payments company, will have to decide whether to call in its €1.75bn syndicated loan, after its auditor EY refused to sign off its 2019 accounts, which the company announced on Thursday, sending its share price into a spiral. Markus Braun, the company's CEO, resigned on Friday.

DZ Hyp managed to attract a healthy order book for a €1bn eight year deal issued on Wednesday, a day before a more narrowly subscribed €1bn 10 year from UniCredit’s German subsidiary, HVB.

Deals issued on Thursday by SR Boligkreditt and UniCredit Germany (HVB) illustrated that investor demand is skewed to bonds that offer a pick-up, no matter how small.

Stephan Gimpel is leaving Citi to pursue an opportunity in fintech, after 14 years in the US bank’s debt capital markets business.