Germany

Commonwealth Bank of Australia swept up remaining demand in the now saturated five year sterling covered bond market on Thursday, while Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (PBB) got a fair reception for the first three year floating rate covered bond of the year.

German chemicals producer BASF snatched a steal in sterling on Tuesday as it printed flat to its curve with a £300m long eight year trade that began 2017’s corporate bond issuance in the currency.

KfW and Ireland brought euro deals on Wednesday at the very top end of size expectations, alleviating a little of the pressure on what is set to be an extremely busy year in the currency. The trades came the same day as Municipality Finance mandated for a euro benchmark and a request for proposals came from the European Financial Stability Facility.

The European Investment Bank set a marker on Wednesday that sterling issuance could be just as hot this month as it was in January last year — as another pair of issuers hoped to add further evidence of that this week.

French technical and energy services company Spie is mulling its options for the acquisition financing of German peer SAG, but a company source dismissed talk of an imminent high yield offering.

BMW formed part of the auto sector’s traditional charge from pole position into the first corners of the corporate bond market on Wednesday, beginning the new year with a dual tranche trade that paid single digit concessions.

German kitchen furniture maker Alno AG started the year with improving earnings data and a big new investor, private equity firm Tahoe, but analysts and bondholders remain unconvinced by the credit.

Four covered bond issuers returned to the market on Tuesday with the first deals of 2017. Two €1.5bn 10 year transactions showed that borrowers are prioritising the tougher, longer duration deals and, while conditions permit, issuing in large size.

Eurex, the derivatives exchange of Deutsche Börse, has hired Lee Bartholomew and Zubin Ramdarshan to work on research and development for new derivatives products.

Germany is likely to lead gross supply of covered bonds next year, and many analysts are forecasting it will see its first proper net increase in years. Even so, the market is likely to remain well supported.

KfW placed its final deal of the year on Tuesday, tapping a short dated sterling line and making this the busiest December for offshore SSA sterling issuance in over a decade.

Fresenius, the German kidney dialysis group, has closed its second Schuldschein issue of the year, growing the deal from the launch size of €400m to €1bn, which brings the its total issuance in the market this year to €1.38bn.