Germany

PKO Bank Hipoteczny (PKO), Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (PBB) and Raiffeisenlandesbank NiederÖsterreich-Wien (RLB-NW) all found strong demand for their €500m covered bond deals this week.

Germany’s largest residential property company Vonovia attracted €4.5bn of demand for its latest deal on Thursday, as the property sector continues to be one of the more popular in the corporate bond market.

World Bank on Thursday added to a record breaking start to the year for public sector sterling issuance with yet another large trade. A German agency is set to bring another deal this Friday in a market that shows no signs of slowing down.

Volkswagen Bank started its funding for 2019 with a hefty four tranche deal on Thursday that will contribute to its minimum requirement of own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) when the German regulator decides what that should be.

The public sector dollar market on Wednesday showed that it had more than enough depth to cope with a pair of issuers bringing deals in the same maturity with just a basis point of difference in initial price thoughts, as both trades came in size and at tightened pricing. Another agency is set to dip into the demand on Thursday.

Four covered bond issuers returned to the market on Wednesday and, in contrast to the start of the year when concessions were 5bp-7bp, none paid more than 2bp.

Two SSA borrowers will go head to head in the dollar market on Wednesday, bringing five year benchmarks with only 1bp difference in initial price thoughts.

Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec (FCDQ), SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) and DZ Bank have announced plans to issue covered bond benchmarks on Wednesday when the market is expected to be just as busy as it was on Tuesday.

New issuance returned to the corporate bond market on Tuesday as Auchan and Vonovia attracted €8bn of demand for their new deals after two days without any trades. The new issuance spreads they paid differed markedly however.

Leveraged finance markets in Europe are looking up, and bankers expect they may even see some deals priced before long.

Spain mandated banks on Monday for its first syndicated bond of the year, as it looks to replicate the success of other eurozone sovereign syndications so far in 2019.

Export Development Canada is set to become the fourth public sector borrower to issue a debut Sonia bond this year, after picking banks on Monday for a three year bond linked to the reference rate. Meanwhile, KfW will return for its second sterling benchmark of 2019, sticking with a five year maturity it issued in earlier in the month.