Germany

Aroundtown Property Holdings, the German-focused property company, raised €300m on Tuesday, as it launched, upsized then closed a convertible bond in the last full week before Christmas.

Germany is expected to lead the way in covered bond supply in 2016, with research analysts estimates’ ranging between €23bn and €30bn. Growth in mortgage lending, high redemptions and a weak private placement market are the main drivers of growth. And, in the event the European Central Bank scales back covered bond purchases, Pfandbrief spreads should be the most stable.

Vonovia

Any bankers who had written off December for corporate bond issuance were forced to eat their words on Wednesday, when Vonovia, the German housing company, issued a €3bn deal to finance its hostile takeover bid for Deutsche Wohnen, and won a book of over €7bn.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary HypoVereinsbank (HVB) priced a well oversubscribed four year mortgage covered bond this week in the wake of CIBC's strong reception in the three year tenor.

Nasdaq Commodities this week introduced a German Wind Index Futures contract, with EDF Trading and Energi Danmark executing the first trade.

Daimler has tapped the sterling bond market for a £250m six year trade, the latest in a steady line of names from the auto sector to do so in a maturity below the market's preference.

Any bankers who had written off December for corporate bond issuance were forced to eat their words today, when Vonovia, the German housing company, issued a €3bn deal to finance its hostile takeover bid for Deutsche Wohnen, and won a book of over €7bn.

KfW will add sustainability ratings to its criteria when selecting lead managers for its green bonds, the agency announced when releasing its funding plans for 2016.

Deutsche Bank has suffered another rating agency downgrade, this time from Fitch, which said the German giant had fallen behind its universal banking peers in preparing for tougher regulation.

UniCredit’s German subsidiary HypoVereinsbank (HVB) priced a well oversubscribed four year Hypothekenpfandbrief on Tuesday. Following a strong reception for CIBC’s three year on Monday, it’s likely other issuers will be looking to take advantage of the surprisingly strong funding window that has followed last week’s European Central Bank meeting.

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