In 2007 E.ON announced its funding program running up to 2010, by which time it plans to raise €30bn. It will be a herculean task, admitted Verena Volpert, senior vice president at E.ON, and in order to ensure lines of communication between investors and the company are kept open, it also created an investor relations department, comprising two people. Last year E.ON borrowed €5.8bn via the bond markets in euros. The total amount outstanding under E.ON's debt issuance program was € 12.8bn end of

The experience of buyout financing in German in the aftermath of the credit crunch has been brutal. The value of buyouts announced fell from €13.8bn in the fourth quarter 2006 to less than €1bn in the same period in 2007. So far this year, just a handful of deals have been announced. Poland and Turkey, which boast exceptional growth opportunities and local bank liquidity, and the Nordic market with its remarkably supportive banking sector, have managed at least to some extent to avoid the buyout

The European property market had been on an upward curve until mid-2007. This continued pattern of appreciation might not have been considered helpful for the development of a property derivatives market but the growth in volumes over the year in the UK showed this was not the case. Similarly the French derivatives market, which opened in early 2007, has seen good early volumes, but in Germany progress has been less dramatic. The German real estate market is the largest in Europe, but it has bee

Private equity remains a highly contentious sector in Germany, with the infamous remark of German politician Franz Muntefering, who liked the industry to locusts, probably representative of the feelings of many. Debates rage in parliament over how to control their activities, while newspapers bemoan their exploitation of the old and the helpless, with one case reporting the eviction of an old lady from her home by one uncompromising fund. Christof von Dryander of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Many expected the credit crunch to result in an increasing number of restructurings but this has yet to materialise. This might be because portfolio companies are generally performing well, though it could also reflect the more lax covenants and lack of amortisation in pre-crunch deals. “Restructuring was quite strong in Germany up to early 2007,” said Werner Meier at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. “At that point the economy was stronger than anticipated and in a series of cases borrowers, wh

In keeping with a wider European theme, the German syndicated loan market has got off to a slow start in 2008. The market is open but borrowing costs are on the way up and opportunistic refinancings are off the agenda, leaving M&A as the expected sole volume driver in 2008. With banks loath to underwrite large tickets, the scene is being set for a challenging year. The absence of new loans means the health of the German market is hard to judge. In all, across the first two months of the year, Ge

How would you characterise BaFin’s regulatory philosophy? As Germany's integrated financial supervisor, our principal task is the supervision of credit institutions and financial services providers (banking supervision), insurance undertakings (insurance supervision) and securities trading (securities supervision). We believe our view of the whole financial system - with all its interdependencies and relationships – allows us to better identify risks and can limit them. We believe in a principle

Deal pipelines are shortening fast but the renewable energy sector is regarded as a niche where ECM transactions are still possible in certain conditions. With Frankfurt as the world's hub for renewable energy listings and its companies dominating the sector, Germany could emerge as a rare ECM bright spot amid the gloom that has descended over the rest of Europe. German companies are world leaders in renewable energy; there is little doubt that its renewable energy infrastructure is better devel

Germany is at heart of Europe. It is a metaphor that encapsulates the importance of the country, which sits at the centre of the continent, but also the fundamental interrelationship between the fortunes of individual country with the continental collective. As Europe has suffered the global virus of disappearing liquidity and recessionary fears, so the beating of the heart has grown somewhat fainter. But it beats on. The healthiest component of this body politic (or should it be body economic?)

Though the traditional mainstay of the German Pfandbrief has been somewhat overshadowed by the hype of new covered bond entrants over recent years, the performance of this asset class during the credit crisis has undoubtedly reaffirmed its position on the centre stage as the best there is in the covered bond world. During the course of the past six months, the secondary covered bond market has continued to delve in and out of panic territory; and in the context of widening credit indices and swa

In the race for exchange consolidation, Deutsche Boerse's list of failed merger attempts could suggest that the exchange has fallen behind its rivals. A failed bid for the London Stock Exchange in 2000 was repeated in 2004. Its attempts to secure a merger with Euronext suffered the same fate in 2006 as the New York Stock Exchange muscled-in with its winning counter-bid for the pan-European exchange. But in spite of its numerous failed attempts to secure a strong European partner, the German stoc

The debt of the German federal government forms the backbone of the European government debt market and the reference point for the pricing and evaluation of all other sovereign debt. Although much bond pricing references swap market levels, the trading of this debt is also done by reference to German bonds – or futures based on them. The recent strong outperformance of securities issued by the Finazagentur seems to have been driven as much by the desire for the return of capital, rather than th