Germany

ING Belgium has mandated leads for its first covered bond deal since September 2015 and, after being 150 years in operation, Berlin Hyp has announced plans for a ‘jubilee’ transaction in the form of a mortgage backed five year.

After the Whit Monday holiday in Europe, Deutsche Telekom boldly reopened the corporate bond market. Having seen compatriot Bertelsmann pull a deal on Thursday, Europe’s largest telecoms provider showed no fear when it sold a four-tranche offering.

Rolls-Royce & Partners Finance (RRPF), a structured aero-engine lessor owned by GATX Corp and Rolls-Royce Holdings, is looking to raise US private placement debt.

Commerzbank’s decision to issue a Pfandbrief on the last day of the week strongly implies that supply is going to get much brisker over the next, holiday-shortened week. Its decision paid off, but it clearly questions the longevity of enthusiastic covered bond demand.

Guarantor: Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia

The euro market got off to a fine start this week as a supranational rarely seen in euros appeared at five years and a mainstay of the market pulled off another successful trade. But later in the week, cracks began to show.

German screws and fastenings wholesaler Würth this week found its domestic investor base had stayed loyal after a three year hiatus from the corporate bond market. However, it also found material offshore interest too.

German chemicals company BASF found substantial demand for its second visit to the corporate bond market to fund its acquisition of Bayer’s seed business.

The first two days of this week saw more than €10bn of bond issuance, with more than a quarter of that volume made up of three deals sold by auto finance issuers. All three deals managed to achieve new issue premiums of 10bp or less, which was tighter than the majority of deals the week before.

German media company Bertelsmann pulled a €500m seven year corporate bond issue on Thursday as the market showed signs of indigestion after what was already one of the busiest weeks of the year for corporate issuance.

Hermes has launched a European direct lending fund, as the investment manager looks to carve out part of a market that has recently reached record highs by volume.

A pair of euro borrowers hit screens at the short end of the euro curve on Thursday, but both failed to reach full subscription.