Germany

Although the public covered bond market was quiet over the second half of this week, several issuers have been busy working on private placements in the year so far. These deals have been driven by reverse enquiry from insurance firms looking for safe, ultra-long dated investments that meet return targets.

Eurex Clearing's head of risk analytics and model validation, Dmitrij Senko, has been appointed chief risk officer, and is set to formally replace risk management veteran Thomas Laux on July 1.

LBBW this week issued a long three year public sector Pfandbrief at the tightest spread of the year, showing just how receptive investors are to supply, particularly for strong names in short tenors.

Public sector borrowers printed over $10bn of bonds on Tuesday in a dollar market that SSA bankers expect to keep its momentum in the weeks ahead.

Deutsche Bank returned to the covered bond market to issue a perfectly choreographed Pfandbrief. The deal was launched into a relatively quiet market and quickly attracted strong demand, enabling leads to set terms very early in the day despite underlying market concerns.

Continental AG, the German engineering conglomerate, is pushing ahead with its spinoff of its powertrain division despite volatility in global equity markets.

CPPIB Capital was comfortably oversubscribed for its $2bn trade on Monday with the dollar SSA market remaining attractive at the short end. Agence Francaise de Developpement, KfW and Kommuninvest will look to tap into lucrative conditions in the currency after mandating banks for deals on Tuesday.

Some Schuldschein arrangers are expecting that a syndicate’s distribution skills may become more important this year, as conditions across capital markets become more chaotic.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

Guarantor: Financial Market Stabilisation Fund of the Federal Republic of Germany

The sterling market for public sector borrowers is enjoying its best ever start to a year thanks to superlative conditions, Sonia linked debuts and a UK parliamentary vote on Brexit next week.

A decision by Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale (Helaba) to issue a rare three year covered bond as part of a two part offering, paid off and put its covered bond offering head and shoulder above other deals issued this week by BayernLB, HVB and UniCredit Bank Austria.