Germany

As the SSA market returns to life, two big name borrowers produced trades at the short end of the curve that underwhelmed some onlookers, prompting some syndicate bankers to speculate that there may be more fertile pastures further out the curve.

Two SSA borrowers printed dollar benchmarks on Wednesday, pulling off solid trades in spite of some investors put off by tight spreads.

A dry spell for the equity-linked market in Europe was broken on Wednesday when TAG Immobilien, the German residential property company, issued a new €262m five year convertible bond as part of a wider refinancing effort.

Public sector borrowers are mainly keeping to the short end of the dollar curve this week, but at least one top tier issuer is understood to be considering a 10 year dollar benchmark in the next few weeks.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank brought some supply to the sparse long end of the SRI market on Tuesday, printing a trade that alongside Rentenbank was part of a strong re-emergence of euro supply after the summer.

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.