Germany

OfficeFirst Immobilien, which owns a German office portfolio spun off by IVG Immobilien, has opened the books for its Frankfurt IPO, with a price range that could value it at up to €1.82bn.

Intense fear about Deutsche Bank’s capital position has once again threatened to mess with the best laid plans of Europe's banks. But the once bulging subordinated bond pipeline may not have emptied out entirely, and that suggests investors are still willing to buy bank bonds.

There was a cheerful mood in European equity capital markets throughout September, despite clear risks of volatility on the horizon and the IPO of Telxius falling into difficulty. The health of the market was highlighted this week by the success of a €2.5bn capital raising by Steinhoff, the South African retail group.

NordLB decided to pull a seven year senior transaction from the market on Tuesday, as speculation about Deutsche Bank’s health hit financial credit spreads and dampened investor sentiment.

Deutsche Bank is not simply too big to fail, it is too big to function. It's time to shrink.

The London Stock Exchange this week moved to deflect a mounting list of European Commission concerns about its proposed merger with Deutsche Börse by saying it would consider selling off its LCH SA French clearing business.

Steinhoff, the South African retail group, has completed a €2.45bn capital increase supported by one of South Africa’s richest men, Christoffel Wiese, and the Public Investment corp, of which €556m was raised through an accelerated bookbuild which ended up being nearly four times oversubscribed.

The euro corporate hybrid market reopened on Wednesday as Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg sold the second leg of its intended two currency deal, the first part of which was said by onlookers to have been subject to poor market conditions early in the week.

German real estate firm VIB Vermögen has increased its Schuldschein by €10m, to €70m, after a small level of oversubscription.

The cheerful and businesslike mood in European equity capital markets, despite clear risks of volatility in the offing, was highlighted again today by the launch of a €2.5bn capital raising by Steinhoff, the South African retail group.

Shares in Hamborner Reit, the German real estate investment trust, traded flat on Tuesday after the company completed a €166.5m rights issue to finance the expansion of its property portfolio.

German chemicals supplier Lanxess picked two banks to supply its €2bn bridge facility for the acquisition of Chemtura. More banks are set to join in syndication, according to a banker close to the deal.