To view the digital version of this report, please click here. To purchase printed copies or a PDF of this report, please email gloria.balbastro@thomsonreuters.com Last Monday’s regional election in Schleswig-Holstein was seen as a key test of the country’s ruling coalition ahead of next year’s federal vote. Its humiliating defeat will fuel the uncertainty brewing over the French presidential poll and the untidy Greek elections. The resultant market volatility increasingly threatens Chancellor A

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(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) While syndicated lending in EMEA slumped 50% versus last year as European banks focus on shrinking balance sheets to meet tough new capital rules, loan activity in Germany remained stable with unchanged total volumes of US$29bn this year, according to Thomson Reuters data. The stability in the country’s loan market was driven by a number of jumbo refinancings, including a €6bn deal for automotive group Schaeffler, a €4bn refinancin

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) Those who lead the European ECM business are often knocked off course by both political and economic ill winds.Yet German skippers have enjoyed a relatively calmer sea amid the storm. The economy is benefiting from a depressed currency, the political climate is uniquely stable for the region, sentiment is positive and in 2012 valuations are on the up. For now the characteristically conservative and dependent nature of businesses an

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) For a brief moment the poster boy of bonds and the great hope for European bank funding, covered bonds have since slipped out of the limelight as the European debt crisis continues to tighten its grip. “There has been an 80% drop in terms of volumes,” said Armin Peter, head of covered bonds at UBS in London. The figures make for stark reading. Issuance into the European covered bond market is low. Year-to-date issuance within the e

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) The Triple A rated agency, backed by a government guarantee from the sovereign powerhouse, has stood head and shoulders above all of its eurozone sector rivals this year. It also remains confident that it will meet the remainder €40bn of its 2012 €80bn funding target – the largest for any of the continent’s agencies – with relative ease. KfW has remained steadfast, as the likes of the European Investment Bank has scaled back its do

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) Bold plans to shut 17 nuclear plants by 2022 has focused attention on Berlin’s commitment to renewable energy, but the success of this radical green agenda will depend on investment in new conventional power stations. The ambitious experiment will force the country to find a low-carbon energy source to replace nuclear – which meets about a quarter of Germany’s electricity demand – likely to be natural gas. A global abundance of gas

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) The day after the presidential election victory of Franςois Hollande in France, the front page of a leading German tabloid warned: “Good morning Chancellor. This is now the most important man in your political life.” It was all so different before Christmas. With Jean-Claude Trichet at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt and with Nicolas Sarkozy in the Elysee Palace in Paris, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was comfortably in th

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) The eurozone crisis might keep its sovereigns under pressure, but the region’s corporates, and German auto manufacturers in particular, managed to get out of the gates this year to a terrific start with successful and tight issuance. With pension funds and insurance companies increasingly wary about throwing their cash at the indebted European governments, and the coupon of benchmark eurozone countries at all-time lows, corporate d

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) London has traditionally enjoyed a level of political support that Frankfurt, situated remotely from the politicians in Berlin, can only envy, said Gertrud Traud, chief economist at Helaba, a Frankfurt-based bank. Now London finds itself in an increasingly similar situation to Germany. “Politicians are now in the driving seat,” said Thomas Schluter, spokesperson of the Association of German Banks. The haircut that banks voluntarily

(To view the digital version of this report, please click here.) “We fear that the cuts are too deep and are being made too fast.” Nowadays, that is a familiar cri de coeur in Europe. In this instance, however, it comes not from opposition politicians protesting against austerity, but from David Wedepohl, spokesperson for the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar). BSW-Solar represents an industry that is appalled by the German government’s recent decision to cut its support for the count