Germany

On Thursday night, in an otherwise barren week for equity block trades, General Atlantic, the US growth equity investment firm, launched the sale of a 2.1% stake in Axel Springer, the German publisher.

Dairy producer Meggle has joined the ranks of green Schuldschein borrowers, launching a €50m triple tranche deal partly funded through green borrowing.

Siemens, the German machinery group, on Thursday broke its long silence on the timing of the IPO of its high margin healthcare technology business, which makes around 40% of its profits.

German publishing company Axel Springer’s shares jumped 4.3% on Wednesday this week after it announced a plan with United Internet to merge their affiliate marketing divisions and float the combined entity.

Public sector issuers are taking advantage of strong summer conditions in the dollar market to bring green and arbitrage-style deals, with more issuance expected next week.

The dollar market is grinding on throughout the summer, with public sector borrowers pushing out deals at the short end, although none have been in benchmark size this week. Two issuers launched transactions on Tuesday with a third slated to follow on Wednesday.

Dairy producer Meggle has joined the ranks of green Schuldschein borrowers, launching a €50m triple tranche deal partly funded through green borrowing.

Guarantor: Financial Market Stabilisation Fund of the Federal Republic of Germany

FMS Wertmanagement was this week the latest public sector issuer to enjoy enviable conditions in the dollar market, and after a US Federal Reserve meeting this week passed without any major surprises more borrowers are rumoured to be looking at trades for next week.

Deutsche Börse reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that showed increased trading of interest rate derivatives offset lower activity in equity and index derivatives.

The ECB stimulus has likely contributed to a flow of borrowers and buyers entering the Schuldschein market, as downward pressure on spreads has forced lenders to look further for yield. But with talk of ECB tapering, some fear that the international investors who drove up volumes will return to more traditional stomping grounds. Others , however, think these investors will be more faithful.

After Monday’s British flavour to corporate bond issuance, German real estate company, Grand City Properties brought the only new issue in the market on Tuesday, as part of an exercise to extend the average maturity of its debt.