Germany

Germany’s Merck has made an unsolicited $5.9bn enterprise value offer for Versum, the US maker of materials for the electronics industry, amid a spate of mergers and acquisitions announced this week, though financiers say that has yet to spark a rise in loan demand.

The German lower house has approved an amendment to Pfandbrief legislation that should ensure UK assets remain eligible in German Pfandbriefe. Had the amendment not been passed, overcollateralization ratios of some Pfandbriefe would have fallen sharply.

Trumpf, a family-owned mechanical engineering company headquartered near Stuttgart, has launched a triple-tranche Schuldschein.

Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA)’s decision to forego the price discovery process on its first benchmark of 2019 paid off, as the issuer printed more than its original target for the dollar deal on Tuesday at a level that some SSA bankers away from the deal said may have been slightly through its secondary curve.

German industrial services company Bilfinger has launched a Schuldschein months after pulling a transaction in public markets. The BB-rated company is offering a spread substantially higher than the typical Schuldschein borrower, in the hope that lenders will forego its failed foray and be charitable with its chequered past.

Sterling issuance may be slowing down after its record start to the year, but investor demand shows no signs of cooling — as KfW proved with a tap on Monday that was nearly double its original target size. Any “bank treasury friendly” borrowers should find healthy demand if they follow in the currency, said bankers.

Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA) looks set to have the dollar market to itself on Tuesday with its first benchmark of the year, and is foregoing the price discovery process.

Saddled with the problems of its parent group and in the absence of a top rating, Deutsche Hypo had to settle for what it could get in the market on Monday. The fact that it raised €625m of 10 year funding at a level close to its curve was therefore something of a minor triumph.

Symrise, the unrated German flavours and fragrances company, has entered the Schuldschein on the hunt for loans to help finance its $900m acquisition of International Dehydrated Foods.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

New issue premiums almost seem to be a thing of the past in this week’s dollar market. As one head of SSA DCM put it: “the secondary market is just too cheap for primary”.

L-Bank will go on the road to promote the first ever Reg S dollar benchmark priced over the dollar risk free rate, Sofr.