Germany

Shares in Lakestar Spac I, a new special purpose acquisition company backed by German venture capitalist Klaus Hommels, have surged by more than 11% in the aftermarket after they began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Monday.

A report that Jana Hecker, global head of equity syndicate and equity capital markets at UniCredit, had worked privately for Markus Braun, the imprisoned former CEO of Wirecard, stunned UniCredit employees on Friday afternoon when it appeared in the Financial Times.

The SSA sterling market had been deserted for two weeks thanks to a hostile cross-currency basis swap, but KfW returned on Thursday with a £500m tap.

Fund managers are eyeing up opportunities in the additional tier one (AT1) market this year, with spreads still said to be well wide of their potential lows.

Lakestar Spac I, a new special purpose acquisition company backed by German venture capitalist Klaus Hommels, has priced its IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, raising €275m.

Hamburger Hochbahn, the city public transport operator, made its bond market debut on Wednesday, slotting into the market neatly with a €500m 10 year green bond and a €3bn order book.

Though both Schuldscheine and US private placements are suffering from droughts of European deals, many of the larger investors in these markets are not too parched. Having used these markets as footholds to develop corporate relationships, they are now keeping deals flowing bilaterally.

The rush of Spac IPOs in Europe is continuing, with the launch of a new Frankfurt-listed cash shell backed by Klaus Hommels, focused on acquiring a company in the technology sector.

Two sizeable block trades priced on Tuesday evening demonstrated appetite for sell-downs after several quite weeks while companies were in earnings blackouts. Bankers expect more sales in the next few weeks as bullish equity investors line up to take on risk.

The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks has developed a contract to ensure Pfandbrief investors’ priority claims on UK-based cover pool assets after Brexit.

Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, has closed a Schuldschein issue in a debut that surprised many in the market. The deal shows there is an appetite for unusual credits among some of the market’s investors. Trafigura’s group treasurer told GlobalCapital that this SSD is only the first from his company.

Hamburger Hochbahn, a government owned public transport operator in Hamburg, is set to make its bond market debut this week, launching itself as a regular bond issuer.