Germany

On Tuesday night, the Hueck family, which controls Hella Hueck & Co, sold a 2% stake in the company at a very slim discount.

Borrowers in the public sector debt market are still enjoying the afterglow of Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the French election but, with Ascension Day sidelining much of Europe and a UK bank holiday Monday, the pace is expected to slacken.

The momentum in the equity block trade market is evident this week, as several large trades have been priced at extremely tight discounts. The drought of equity-linked deals also ended this week, with a zero coupon note issued by a Danish hearing equipment maker.

On Monday night, Kion Group, the German forklift truck maker, completed a €602m capital increase to refinance its acquisition of Dematic, a specialist automation company, through an accelerated bookbuild led by Goldman Sachs.

KfW launched a three year global on Tuesday, raising $5bn, while Japan Bank for International Cooperation picked banks for a four tranche dollar trade.

Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB) returned to the sterling market on Tuesday, raising £350m with a five year deal.

Germany's Daimler has rapidly returned to the Panda bond market, pricing a dual-trancher last week. Its deal was followed by China Power New Energy Development Company (CPNE)’s debut green Panda, a rarity in the renminbi market.

KfW will be the first public sector borrower to test a dollar market where swap spreads have rebounded off the 2017 lows they hit in the middle of last week.

KfW has raised the threshold of sustainability it requires as an investor, as part of a growing trend for bond buyers to focus on the impact of their investments.

German mining firm K+S issued in the bond market for the second time in the past six weeks on Wednesday, in investment grade style despite its October downgrade into high yield ratings.

After adding more green loans to its cover pool, Berlin Hyp (BHH) is now ready to return to the Pfandbrief market and on Tuesday mandated leads for a roadshow ahead of its second green mortgage-backed deal.

Sparkasse Hamburg extended its curve and priced a Pfandbrief inside fair value with good demand this week. At the same time Hypo Tirol paid a relatively small concession for its sub-benchmark Pfandbrief, suggesting any lingering concern over Austrian covered bonds following the Heta saga has been put to rest.