UniCredit

Volkswagen has returned to the public straight bond markets in its own name for the first time since September 2015, when it was swept from the market by its emissions test cheating scandal. Bond markets being what they are, a multi-billion euro blowout is likely.

Shares in Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in Germany, fell 2.7% on Monday morning after it published its 2016 annual report and launched its €8bn two-for-one rights issue.

WL Bank took advantage of strong funding conditions — and a reverse enquiry — to issue a tightly priced 20 year public sector backed Pfandbrief on Thursday, the longest covered bond from Germany this year. The transaction follows the announcement of plans to merge the cover pools of WL Bank and DG Hyp.

Slovenian steel group, SIJ, has signed its first syndicated loan for €240m, leading the way for more corporates from the country.

Six borrowers announced offerings in the European high yield bond market on Monday as borrowers looked to beat what could have been disruptive Dutch elections two days later.

Shares in Amundi, the French asset manager, closed 4% lower on Tuesday after it announced the terms for its €1.4bn rights issue to partly finance its takeover of Pioneer Investments, the asset management division of UniCredit, for €3.5bn.

Croatia’s revived euro benchmark had received orders of €2.75bn and seen its order books shut by lunchtime Monday with the country having enjoyed a ratings agency boost on Friday to defy any fears of being overshadowed by Kuwait’s sovereign deal, which was also in the market.

While Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting brought little in the way of material changes, the SSA market is watching closely, expecting a tightening of eurozone monetary policy. Meanwhile, the Joint Laender launched a euro seven year benchmark.

Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor Company raised $1bn with a tap of its outstanding 2026s on Wednesday but fell foul to underlying rate movements which meant that it did not price at the tight end of guidance, according to a lead banker.

The Republic of Croatia has picked four banks to revive a euro benchmark deal it was forced to delay last year after anti-government protests in Zagreb in the early summer.

Toronto Dominion had less luck than its Canadian peers when it issued the third sterling Canadian covered bond of the year this week. Even though the transaction offered a hefty concession there was only sufficient demand to issue in half the size of the previous deals.

Covered bonds issued this week by Axa Bank and Lansforsakringar Hypotek (LF Hyp) were priced at — or inside — fair value, partly reflecting a technical squeeze that was aggravated by the European Central Bank’s move to step up purchases in the secondary market.