KfW

KfW raised €3bn with a slow burning seven year benchmark on Thursday, leaving SSA bankers wary about the threat of over saturation in the currency as several issuers mull deals for next week.

The European Stability Mechanism is seeking ideas for a bond issue next week, as the euro market burst back into life following a holiday across much of Europe on Wednesday.

Last year’s difficult dollar conditions looked firmly in the past on Tuesday as a pair of issuers tapped different parts of the curve for big deals — and other issuers readied themselves for trades.

Hong Kong-listed China SCE Property has completed a $400m fundraising via four mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

A pair of SSA heavyweights are limbering up for the first public sector dollar benchmarks since the US Federal Reserve raised rates late in 2015 — and plenty more could follow ahead of the next Fed conflab.

Wind turbine company Nordex signed €1.4bn in loans on Tuesday. The five bookrunners flexed to accommodate a planned acquisition, in what was intended to be a plain refinancing.

With plenty of cash to deploy following a large number of redemptions, sterling investors piled into what looks likely to be KfW’s last sterling offering of the year on Tuesday.

KfW will use sustainability criteria when choosing leads for its green bonds. It is a logical and welcome step.

German agency KfW will take the sustainability criteria of banks into account when they pitch for its green bond business — a move that could ensure the growing SRI market keeps true to its founding principles. But as Craig McGlashan reports, the decision could also slash the number of banks involved in the sector, which has been one of the few bright spots in the public sector bond markets this year.

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.

With the market anticipating that the European Central Bank (ECB) will extend quantitative easing on December 3, issuers are heading further down the curve to offer investors an attractive level.

Demand was so strong for an agency bond tap on Thursday that the leads had to ask the issuer to increase the deal, as SSA investors scrambled to get their hands on one of the last large issues of the year.