Germany

WL Bank took advantage of strong funding conditions — and a reverse enquiry — to issue a tightly priced 20 year public sector backed Pfandbrief on Thursday, the longest covered bond from Germany this year. The transaction follows the announcement of plans to merge the cover pools of WL Bank and DG Hyp.

Wacker Chemie picked Credit Suisse, Citigroup and Commerzbank on Tuesday night to sell 21% of Siltronic, the German company that makes silicon wafers for mobile phones and computers, after its share price had rallied by more than 260% over the past 12 months.

The ‘Basel IV’ output floor agreements, which regulators call the completion of ‘Basel III’, are stalled until US president Donald Trump's administration names negotiators to show up to committee meetings, according to two members of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

KfW launched a £300m tap of a December 2019 line on Wednesday, pulling in over £350m of orders in spite of sharp swings in the strength of the currency.

Spie, the French technical services provider, brought the first new leveraged buy-out financing in the euro high yield bond market for three months this week with a €600m seven year senior unsecured bond.

Patrick Seifert will become head of primary markets at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, taking over from Patrick Steeg who will move to the firm’s asset and liability management business.

Aumann Group, the German maker of wire enamelling and electric motors for cars, has opened the book for its Frankfurt IPO, which could value it at up to €257m.

Volkswagen is planning a return to public bond markets for the first time since it was engulfed by its emissions test cheating scandal in September 2015, write Michael Turner, Silas Brown and Jon Hay.

RAG-Stiftung, the German state-backed foundation set up in 2007 to support the discontinuation of the country’s coal mines, tapped the equity-linked market for a third time on Thursday with a €525m note exchangeable into shares in Evonik Industries, the German speciality chemicals company.

While Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting brought little in the way of material changes, the SSA market is watching closely, expecting a tightening of eurozone monetary policy. Meanwhile, the Joint Laender launched a euro seven year benchmark.

The Schuldschein market has stumped up €900m for Volkswagen in its first syndicated, unsecured debt issue in its own name since it was engulfed by its emissions test cheating scandal in September 2015.

Volkswagen’s main borrowing entities have not issued unsecured bonds since the company became embroiled in its diesel emissions test cheating scandal in September 2015. Last week, however, the company took a first step back, with a €900m Schuldschein issue for its financial services arm.