Germany

German medical care company Fresenius attracted 45 banks into a €3.8bn refinancing, closing the transaction on Tuesday.

Germany’s WL Bank left little on the table when selling a 10 year mortgage Pfandbrief on Tuesday, following the example of recent trades from Commerzbank and Münchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) and setting a final price very close to fair value.

The euro market for public sector borrowers appears to be fully reopening after the summer break, with a pair of issuers bringing mandates in very different tenors. Both trades are likely to benefit from the lack of supply over the last few weeks, said bankers.

The minutes of the European Central Bank's (ECB) July meeting revealed a new and optimistic tone on inflation, but caution on relaxing its accommodative measures.

Investors missed a strategic warning from Etihad earlier this year when the company removed the CEO in charge of its $4bn expansion strategy, and were blindsided this week when its partner airline Air Berlin filed for bankruptcy, write Virginia Furness and Aidan Gregory.

“I was confused before I went in, and even more confused when I came out,” was how one EM investor described meeting Etihad and its partners to discuss its now infamous structured notes.

Commerzbank attracted as much demand and paid an identical new issue premium for its €750m 10 year covered bond issued on Thursday as Münchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) did for its €750m nine year launched a day before. The two transactions show that the summer lull is over and the covered bond market is back in business.

FMS Wertmanagement has printed its third deal of the summer, scooping up €1bn of short dated euro paper with an opportunistic trade.

Air Berlin, the second biggest airline in Germany, is at risk of defaulting on more than €600m equivalent of bonds, including €130m of convertible bonds, after the carrier filed for insolvency.

Münchener Hypothekenbank issued a tightly priced nine year Pfandbrief on Wednesday, just as Commerzbank mandated leads for a 10 year. The deals are likely to be followed by others from core Europe and especially from borrowers looking to fund at the long end, where execution risks may rise in the run up to the European Central Bank’s meeting on September 7.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MuHyp) managed to pull its Munich-based lead managers away from their beer gardens and swimming pools on Tuesday to announce a Pfandbrief mandate, though somewhat late in the day.

FMS Wertmanagement is set to dip into the market for the third time this summer, as it seeks to meet an increased funding target for the year.