LBBW

Lenders to Wirecard, the embattled German payments company, will have to decide whether to call in its €1.75bn syndicated loan, after its auditor EY refused to sign off its 2019 accounts, which the company announced on Thursday, sending its share price into a spiral. Markus Braun, the company's CEO, resigned on Friday.

The European Investment Bank and the State of Brandenburg have mandated banks to bring euro deals on Thursday, in what has been an extremely thin week for supply with issuers well funded and some weakness in secondaries.

The Flemish Community has mandated banks to arrange the sale of new seven and 30 year bonds as the Belgian sub-sovereign looks to pump in cash to finance a budget deficit which has arisen from the coronavirus pandemic.

Tom Tailor, the German fashion brand, has signed a €100m loan guaranteed by the federal and regional governments. It has also extended its existing bank line, although the company says it will not be enough to stave off insolvency at holding company level.

The coronavirus crisis may have hit overall covered bond supply prospects, but it has provided a silver lining for some banks — such as Credit Suisse, ING and Commerzbank which have all fared well in the covered bond league tables this year.

The corporate bond market made a promising start to the week with oil company OMV’s dual tranche bonds and Deutsche Börse’s hybrid trade commanding sizeable books and big price moves, which bodes well for the spate of mandates that have landed on investors’ screens.

Hella, the German car parts maker, has signed a €500m syndicated revolving credit facility, as lenders highlight the sector as one of the most likely to feel long-term economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

LBBW printed the first Pfandbrief since the onset of the coronavirus crisis with a deal that was priced flat to fair value. The high level of demand suggested good scope for the bond to perform and showed that investors are ready to buy, even though the deal was priced tighter than German Laender bonds — which is very unusual.

Berlin Hyp has launched tender offers on four of its euro covered bonds in an effort to optimise its funding costs and provide liquidity to investors. The issuer also plans a new long dated covered bond.

Barry Callebaut, the Franco-Belgian chocolate maker now registered in Switzerland, launched a Schuldschein on Tuesday offering investors tenors "upon request" alongside two, five and eight year maturities. Robert Bosch did that too, when it reopened the market last month. This is a feature that arrangers say will increase in a post Covid world.

France impressed as it received a record €51bn order book and paid a small new issue premium with its first syndication since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sovereign was joined in the long end of the curve this week by two sub-sovereign borrowers as investor appetite for duration grows, with more supply expected to follow.

The Belgian region of Wallonne took advantage of the growing demand in the long end of the curve to sell its first social bond on Thursday, although it had to pay a chunky new issue premium to do so. Elsewhere, Bpifrance received plenty of demand to print €1.25bn with a 10 year trade.