Germany

RBC Capital Markets has hired a former Nomura banker to run its M&A business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

NRW.Bank brought a large sterling bond this week that was more than doubly subscribed, in what was a “great outcome”, according to bankers away from the trade. The deal came as the UK Debt Management Office picked the tenor for its next syndication.

The embattled chief executive of Deutsche Börse, Carsten Kengeter, has resigned after a multi-million euro settlement over alleged insider trading was thrown out by Frankfurt's local court on Monday.

Goshawk, the Irish aircraft lessor, is returning to the Schuldschein market, a year after its $95m debut last October. While borrowers seeking dollar Schuldscheine are few and far between, the product is growing popular among Asian lenders with natural dollar needs — which might spark the interest of a wider range of borrowers.

JP Morgan made an aggressive manoeuvre in the equity-linked bond market on Tuesday night by placing a $250m tap of BASF’s innovative bond with warrants, having outbid other banks, including Deutsche Bank, which had structured and led the original deal.

Ringier, the Swiss media company, launched a €50m Schuldschein on Tuesday that is expected to attract a wider range of investors than its first outing in the market last December, a successful €50m issue.

The European high yield bond pipeline this week brought €1bn of single-B rated offerings in euros and sterling from new issuers, giving hope to those working for a bigger borrower base for the market.

Korean Housing and Finance Corporation (KHFC) has opened order books in dollars, Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) is set to price a small Swiss Franc deal and Piraeus Bank has finalised terms for its floating rate bond that was mainly placed with supranationals.

Deutsche Hypo has mandated leads to market its inaugural green Pfandbrief, taking the number of German green covered bond issuers to two. But since the bank could be soon bought by the only other green Pfandbrief issuer, the universe might well return to one.

A new bond refinancing deal for German fashion company Takko will provide a welcome boost to triple-C bond volumes, although it is not clear whether the deal will pave the way for a wave of risky credits to return to the high yield market, bankers said.

Exchange and clearing house operator Deutsche Börse and its CEO Carsten Kengeter are back in hot water after a multi-million euro settlement offer over alleged insider trading was thrown out by Frankfurt’s local court on Monday. Senior public prosecutor in Frankfurt, Nadja Niesen, told GlobalCapital on Tuesday that the court rejected the prosecution's attempts to settle the case by means of a "monetary penalty".

NRW.Bank is set to return to the sterling market on Tuesday, coming on the heels of a tap from the Council of Europe Development Bank.