Germany

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank and the State of Brandenburg took advantage of a lack of euro SSA supply this week to bring well subscribed deals on Tuesday. The Asian Development Bank will be looking to follow with a 10 year euro benchmark on Wednesday.

Arrangers are confident that a wave of international issuers will enter the Schuldschein market soon, with German borrowers having kick-started proceedings at the beginning of the new year.

A major shareholder in SLM Solutions Group, the German maker of 3D printers, sold a chunk of his stake in the company, via an accelerated bookbuild on Thursday.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) is set to become the first issuer of green non-preferred senior paper in the sterling bond market, as well as the first financial institution to include sustainability ratings in a new deal mandate.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

The dollar SSA bond market, unfettered by geopolitical volatility, enjoyed an excellent week, although it is still lagging behind the euro market in terms of overall supply.

German equity capital markets are off to a flying start this year, buoyed by a rally in the DAX and renewed interest in European equities among US investors. There is renewed optimism about deals to come, including several of this year’s largest European IPOs.

UK chemicals giant Ineos’s German styrenics subsidiary is marketing €500m of senior secured notes and a €680m equivalent term loan B, with an intention to issue a €300m dividend to its parent company, controlled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. The remaining proceeds will be used for refinancing all of its term loans and some of the upcoming investments.

Delivery Hero, the German online food ordering marketplace, raised €2.3bn this week via a simultaneous placement of new shares and convertible bonds to finance its takeover of South Korea’s Woowa Brothers.

Commerzbank was able to attract "very high quality books" for its issue of non-preferred senior euro and sterling bonds on Wednesday.

KfW and Canada both launched dollar benchmarks on Wednesday, bringing a pair of highly subscribed and tight deals. Following their success, two Asian SSA issuers prepare to join the busy dollar market.

RAG-Stiftung, the foundation charged with financing cleaning up the legacy of coal mining, has placed a block of shares in Evonik, the German speciality chemical manufacturer, at a tight concession after increasing the deal to €632.5m. The trade is another example of growing levels of demand for EMEA block trades.