Germany

Germany is set to become the first eurozone sovereign to settle its derivative transactions via central clearing, after announcing plans on Monday to become a direct clearing member of EurexOTC Clear.

SGL Carbon, the German manufacturer of products from carbon, issued a successful €167m convertible bond on Wednesday morning, and launched the repurchase of an existing CB.

The Euromoney Smaller European Companies Index Series currently comprises 1350 companies across 16 European countries.

A pair of SSAs hit screens with euro benchmark mandates on Monday — and bankers are confident that market conditions will stay bright to support even more expected supply.

LBBW has issued the third 10 year German covered bond in just over a week, and the first €1bn sized deal from the country since July. Though the public sector-backed transaction was only marginally oversubscribed, demand was driven by high quality German insurers, who requested and got full allocations. Kreissparkasse Koeln has also opened books for a four year Pfandbrief.

A member of Barclays FIG syndicate team, who focussed on covered bonds, has left the bank to return to his previous employer.

Barclays began marketing a multi-tranche Samurai trade on Monday, as some FIG bankers claimed European banks were still baulking at the new issue premiums being offered by US visitors to the euro market.

Covestro, the polymer producing unit of Bayer, this morning released its intention to float (ITF) in Frankfurt, kicking off the first substantial listing process after the summer lull.

After the first week of proper business in European equity capital markets since the August shutdown, the early signs are good: investors are open to buying new deals.

The buoyant trend in the equity block trade market continued on Thursday evening, as Deutsche Börse raised €200m to finance its acquisition of 360T Trading Networks with a tightly priced sale of treasury shares.

State of North

Commerzbank, Caisse Francaise de Financement Local (Caffil) and Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) invigorated the long end of the covered bond market this week with 10 year deals, a duration which had not been seen for over four months.