Germany

Covestro, the German chemicals company, priced a €447m capital increase on Tuesday night to partially refinance an acquisition. Investors supported the deal in large numbers, despite a rough night for secondary markets and an incredibly tight discount.

Morphosys, the German biotech company, has tapped the equity-linked market with a new €325m convertible bond, adding to the flood of issuance from the sector during the pandemic.

KfW and Ville de Paris grabbed the attention of investors at the opposite ends of the euro curve on Tuesday in what has been a thin week for issuance in the currency by public sector borrowers ahead of the expected arrival of the EU’s first syndicated bond under its Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) funding programme next week.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, October 12. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services

Wüstenrot Bausparkasse attracted exceptionally strong demand for its seven year Pfandbrief launched on Tuesday, causing the issuer to increase the deal’s size from an originally planned sub-benchmark size to benchmark. In so doing it further improved the scale and quality of the order book reflecting improved regulatory treatment and index inclusion for the deal.

German e-commerce company fashionette, which sells designer handbags and accessories online, has launched an IPO on the Frankfurt stock exchange. Sources close to the deal are hoping that other large e-commerce listings will boost the flotation.

KfW mandated banks for a seven year euro benchmark on Monday, a deal which was already expected to arrive this week and could well be the German agency’s final public deal in the currency this year.

Wüstenrot Bausparkasse mandated leads on Monday for a seven year Pfandbrief in sub-benchmark size. The German building society’s transaction is set to emerge ahead of another from Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall which is also due soon.

Rating: Aa1/AA/AAA

KfW could be set to hit screens with a euro benchmark next week in what may be its final public deal in the currency this year, according to bankers. The bond is likely to come with a seven year maturity, a tenor that the Free State of Saxony struggled with on Thursday, finishing with the book only around half covered.

Shares in two companies, listed on Wednesday, are trading below their IPO price, with bankers blaming more volatile market conditions for the disappointing moves.

The German Ministry of Finance has requested feedback on a draft amendment to the Pfandbrief Act that seeks to bring the country’s laws into line with the EU covered bond directive. The most contentious aspect is the inclusion of a soft bullet maturity.