Germany

The Bank of England on Thursday raised its base rate by 25bp to 0.75%, a move that was widely expected and one that brought next to no market reaction — keeping conditions calm for what could be a record year for SSA sterling issuance. L-Bank added to that tally on the same day with a deal that came 25% above its initial size target.

Investors gave a warm reception to a new €750m four year senior unsecured bond issued by German building materials company HeidelbergCement on Wednesday, covering the deal more than three times.

The merger between DG Hyp and WL Bank has become legally effective and the rebranded entity, DZ Hyp, is now the largest German Pfandbrief issuer.

The Schuldschein market's heavy reliance on car industry borrowers means the prospects of trade wars affecting the sector are worrying investors and arrangers alike.

Daimler raised €3bn on Tuesday with a blockbuster bond offering of three tranches, each of which was heavily oversubscribed. The deal comes in an empty new issue market and is unusually large for this time of year.

Consus Real Estate, the German residential property development company, has completed a capital increase raising €131m to fund new projects.

Conversations about global events in the Schuldschein market are a rarity. In fact, a source of pride for Schuldschein participants is that their market is sheltered from the world, and there is little need to dwell on geopolitics. But there is one global event the Schuldschein market can’t avoid thinking about — a trade war that circles around the automotive industry.

Germany’s Scout24 has signed bank facilities totalling €1bn, with the digital marketplace operator shedding millions off the interest payments owed under the bank funding being replaced.

Germany’s Emsland Group has signed a €150m five year bank facility, with the food processing company using the same bank group as its last loan outing.

BlackRock has closed its first private debt fund dedicated to the European middle market, as the asset manager predicts private debt will be increasingly "significant" in the way mid-cap companies are financed.

German banks could be slow to get going with issuing preferred senior debt despite the fact that they are regaining access to the tool from next week. Issuers will have to get to a hold on how pricing for the new notes will compare with other asset classes.

Jonathan Bock, who previously held the role of managing director and senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo, will become a managing director on Barings’ global private finance platform.