Germany

Porsche has launched a Schuldschein, priced at about half the spreads on its previous €1.1bn offering in March 2016.

DekaBank, BayernLB, Berlin Hyp and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank took the opportunity to issue in small sizes across the full range of maturities with deals that were all priced with a double digit spread through mid-swaps.

HIG Capital has acquired a controlling stake in German manufacturing firm Beinbauer Group. The fund used financing from direct lender Beechbrook Capital, with both borrower and lender praising the flexibility of the evolving direct lending market.

IKB Deutsche Industriebank, an unrated German financial institution, was selling tier two capital in the euro bond market on Monday.

Instone Real Estate Group, the German housebuilder, plans to go public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in February, having filed an intention to float document on Monday.

The German private nursing care group Alloheim Senioren-Residenzen is out with a new leveraged loan offering to fund its buyout by Nordic Capital. This loan is among the first deals to be lined up to close in February, as hopes build of a surge of merger and acquisition driven borrowing.

Germany's domestic central bank said this week that it would start buying renminbi assets. Andreas Dombret, a member of the board at the Bundesbank, indicated to GlobalRMB that the central bank — like others in the developed markets — would follow the European Central Bank’s small initial allocation to the currency.

The closest things to European corporate bond issues in euros on Thursday were a €200m sole-led issue for Deutsche Telekom, reported by Dealogic, and a €500m floater for LeasePlan, the Dutch car leasing bank.

UK petrol station operator EG Group launched a jumbo leveraged loan facility on Thursday, totalling €3.5bn-equivalent, to finance its acquisition of Esso sites in Italy and Germany. Bank meetings are due to be wrapped up by the end of this week.

Germany’s HeidelbergCement, rated Baa3/BBB-/BBB-, has signed a new €3bn-equivalent multi-currency revolving credit facility, refinancing debt early to lock in better terms.

The Schuldschein and US PP markets pride themselves on rigorous credit analysis, but both were caught flat-footed when UK outsourcing firm Carillion fell into liquidation this week. The likelihood of private debt investors getting their money back is slim, and the knock-on effects on both markets are being disputed, write Nell Mackenzie and Silas Brown.

NIBC, Raiffeisenlandesbank NiederÖsterreich-Wien (RLB NW) and BayernLB were easily able to sell 10 year covered bonds issued this week, thanks to their small size and European Central Bank demand.