To view the digital version of this report, please <a href="http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?EID=d464c32e-28fc-43ba-b77b-c6943af9cb63" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onkeypress="window.open(this.href);return false;">click here</a>. The politics of Europe have always been delicate for Germany. But in the last 12 months the volume of protest among Germans at having to bankroll European financial rescue packages has re

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To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Germany has been a hotbed of equity capital market activity in 2011. Not only have private equity funds made an impression on the market but high ticket stock sales by the likes of Volvo have ensured strong competition amongst banks fighting for league table credit. In recent years, already listed companies looking to raise capital have been key innovators, coming with transactions that have on occasion been replicated successfully s

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. In the 2004 film Meet the Fockers, as Robert de Niro’s character Jack Byrnes contemplates his new in-laws, he is heard to mutter; “I’m not so sure this wedding is such a good idea. I don’t like what I’m seeing from these Fockers.” It is a sentiment that must strike a chord in Germany right now. As its economy goes from strength to strength, its euro region partners in Greece, Ireland and Portugal are struggling to climb out of a debt

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Since the financial crisis, Germany has taken a series of unique steps by pre-implementing international or European regulatory principles, including remuneration requirements set out by the Financial Stability Board; amendments of the Capital Requirements Directive, in particular CRD2 and CRD3; partial pre-implementation of Solvency II for the insurance sector; and a ban of naked credit default swaps on sovereign debt. In September

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. Wolfgang Driese, chief executive and chairman of the board of managing directors of Frankfurt-based DVB Bank, gives every impression of being a man on a mission. On a flying visit to London recently, he exuded a convincing brand of energetic self-assurance. And so he might. The bank had recently reported record consolidated pre-tax income of €131m for 2010, completing 140 new transactions during the year – 84 in shipping, 45 in aviat

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. The German securitisation markets are a far cry from what they once were in terms of both volumes and the range of structures that are typically used. However, the past year has indeed seen some significant pick-up in volumes. Investors are beginning to return to the market, but what traditional bank investors are looking for is transactions that are simple, secure and easy to understand. The big banks espouse security above all else

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. A decline in the market and a tightening of spreads are two things that have characterised the German Pfandbriefe market over the past 10 years. In the midst of a massive restructuring of its banking system, German banks were forced to adapt to a changing funding landscape that typically favoured government guaranteed bonds over all else.   In 2010, the volume of the German Pfandbrief market shrank by a further €80bn or 11% to around

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. As its export-driven economy returns to pre-crisis levels in 2011, Germany is increasingly seen by investment grade lenders as a safe haven away from the turmoil of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. Highly-rated German corporates also seem to be well placed to make acquisitions, while a large and healthy Mittelstand generates tantalising targets for cash rich private equity sponsors. The German market looks ripe for a resurgence of len

To view the digital version of this report, please click here. On the whole, German companies that have had to restructure their debt have been undermined by company specific issues, not ones related to their sector. Although eyewear companies Carl Zeiss and Rodenstock have both fallen victim, individual examples like wood processor Pfleiderer, solar company Conergy, car parts company Honsel and printing group Schlott are more numerous. Overall economic sentiment in the German market is improvin