Germany

A run of 10 year covered bond issuance looks set to continue through to Wednesday with Bawag and Deutsche Bank announcing plans for Pfandbrief transactions. Bankers on these deals are hopeful that order book momentum improves, but some are slightly concerned that investor fatigue may be setting in.

Bookrunners on TeamViewer, the German remote access software company closed the books on the IPO on Tuesday and confirmed that many investors will get very little of their orders because of high levels of demand for the transaction.

Norbert Doerr is set to leave his position as head of capital management and funding at Commerzbank, after 12 years working within the German lender’s treasury team.

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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.

SoftBank, the Japanese technology conglomerate, astonished equity-linked bond market participants this week by executing a deft trade, arranged by Credit Suisse, that recovered all its €900m investment in Wirecard, the controversial German payments processing company, while leaving it with upside. Aidan Gregory and Jon Hay report.

German Pfandbrief issuers DZ Hyp and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba) enjoyed strong receptions for their €1bn Pfandbriefe issued this week. Bankers suggested that the German market had a good chance to perform.

The order book for Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale’s (Helaba) €1bn 10 year public sector backed Pfandbrief was quick to build reflecting the view that the bonds were priced cheaply and that spreads will almost certainly tighten, said bankers.

LBBW joined CaixaBank is raising social bond funding in the euro market this week, but the German lender struggled to build up demand and tighten pricing for its €500m deal.

ING, which served as agent on a Schuldschein for the first time only five years ago, has carved out an impressive niche in the market, arranging nearly every green issue.

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.

Telecom Italia has returned to the Schuldschein market, but through its Italian listed holding company for the first time. Ever since Italy made tax changes for foreign lenders four years ago, Schuldschein arrangers have hoped that more Italian borrowers would come to the market. But companies are coming to the market for price and diversification above anything else.