Germany

KfW is aiming to issue a fifth dollar benchmark this year, following the success of its first global dollar benchmark tap since 2013 earlier this week.

Negotiations between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the covered bond industry around asset eligibility are like trying to “put a square peg in a round hole” and have proved to be the “mother of all discussions”, said key representatives of the two organisations at the European Covered Bond Council’s (ECBC) 28th Plenary Meeting in Munich on Wednesday.

German snack food company Intersnack has launched a €150m-equivalent Schuldschein with euro and sterling tranches — evidence, market players said, of the flexibility of the instrument.

Deutsche Kreditbank and Skipton Building Society both announced mandates for euro-denominated covered bonds on Wednesday, with DKB’s to come as its debut social bond.

The Inter-American Development Bank and KfW drew strong demand in the dollar SSA market on Tuesday, with the former issuing just the fourth 10 year dollar benchmark from an SSA of the year.

A very large block trade, relative to the market cap, is taking place tonight in shares of Instone Real Estate, the German residential property developer. The €413m trade covers 49.6% of the capital.

Daimler raised £500m when it reopened the sterling corporate bond market two weeks ago following the summer break — and nothing more was seen in the currency until this week, when two deals raised a combined £1.1bn.

Wüstenrot Bausparkasse issued a €250m eight year Pfandbrief and, though it was smaller and attracted less demand than its debut deal, the new issue premium was tight.

US firm Medical Properties Trust has signed a €655m secured financing package as the real estate investment firm enters into a European joint venture with France’s Primonial Group.

Two banks made their public debuts in the senior preferred asset class with sub-benchmark deals this week: Münchener Hypothekenbank and Ålandsbanken.

On the same day BMW reopened the euro corporate bond market following the summer break, Daimler reopened the sterling market. On Wednesday, BMW decided to follow a similar path to Daimler for its own sterling deal, but could not achieve quite the same success.

Eurex, the derivatives exchange belonging to Deutsche Börse, reported a 56% increase in traded equity derivatives contracts in August 2018 compared to the same period last year.