Germany

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bahn sold its first bond of 2019, setting the bar with a €1bn 10 year deal that has a new issue premium of less than the 20bp limit that triple-B rated names had failed to tighten past.

The public sector euro market’s thundering start to the year stayed noisy on Thursday as a quartet of smaller issuers from across the continent printed oversubscribed deals.

Sterling issuance from non-UK public sector borrowers has made by far its strongest ever start to a calendar year, with borrowers and bankers citing liquidity-laden investors and a crucial parliamentary vote on Brexit next week as factors behind the rush. Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and FMS Wertmanagement added to the feast on Thursday, while Inter-American Development Bank will bring yet another trade this Friday.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank were the latest European banks to take advantage of this week's calmer markets to raise senior preferred debt.

Triton Partners has provided one of the first significant tests of equity blocks market sentiment in 2019, with a €108m sale of shares in Befesa, the German metal recycling firm, that went public in Frankfurt in 2017.

Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale (Helaba)’s decision to issue a rare three year covered bond as part of a two part offering, clearly paid off despite concerns over the lack of yield.

After a run of triple-B rated corporate bond issuance, A-rated names have returned to the market and paid lower premiums than the higher beta issuers had, but 10.75 years remains the longest tenor to date.

Belgium and KfW received well oversubscribed order books for 10 year euro benchmarks on Tuesday, with several public sector borrowers set to follow in the euro market this week.

Austrian construction firm Porr has become the first Schuldschein borrower in 2019, launching a pair of deals totalling €150m that are offered in three maturities. The deal was launched on Monday, and some of it is for green projects.

Investors in some tier one instruments issued by HSH Nordbank are taking their complaints to court in Germany, claiming that the way in which the notes were written down and the coupon payments missed was improper.

BNP Paribas has hired a senior originator at BayernLB to cover the Schuldschein market.

FMS Wertmanagement was quick to execute its inaugural Sonia-linked bond on Monday amid strong sterling floater demand. That hunger is showing no signs of abating, with International Finance Corporation looking to follow with its own debut Sonia bond on Tuesday.