Germany

GEA Group, a maker of equipment for the food processing industry in Düsseldorf, has launched a €150m dual tranche Schuldschein, hoping to attract a wide variety of investors.

KfW and Dexia Crédit Local are first out the blocks in what looks set to be a busy euro market for public sector borrowers this week.

Scope Ratings, a rating agency in Berlin, has warned that Schuldschein issuance may fall as a consequence of the 2017 credit difficulties of international borrowers Carillion and Steinhoff International.

Vonovia, Germany’s largest housing association, may have sold the primary market's only investment grade corporate bond on Monday but as its order books showed, conditions remain very receptive for issuance.

The sterling market had a healthy opening week in the public sector with three deals raising a combined £1.9bn, and there is plenty more in the pipeline, according to syndicate bankers.

LBBW, Santander UK and Westpac all enjoyed fair demand for seven year covered bonds issued this week, suggesting good scope for further issuance in this tenor.

The Schuldschein pipeline is filling up fast, and German blue chips, mostly absent last year, are considering returning with benchmark deals, bankers said this week. If so, the Schuldschein market will look to add these chunky transactions to a repeat of last year’s heavy deal flow.

The Schuldschein pipeline is filling up fast, and there are rumours that German blue chips, mostly absent last year, are considering returning with benchmark transactions. If that is the case, the Schuldschein market will look to add these chunky transactions to a repeat of last year’s heavy deal flow.

Given the success of the corporate bond market's opening deals of the year, it was perhaps surprising that only one issuer came to market on Thursday, but Daimler achieved similar success to the RCI Banque Wednesday deal that it copied.

A pair of public sector borrowers blew away the cobwebs in the sterling market on Wednesday, printing a combined £1.5bn.

Investment grade corporate bond market players only had to wait one day for the first new deals of 2018. Renault and BMW both brought new paper to market on Wednesday, selling a total of €2.75bn of bonds with little premium.

An optimistic mood is spurring on Europe’s equity capital markets, with a busy quarter expected, particularly for IPOs.