In many respects, the past few years have been kind to treasurers. In some ways, you could almost say that they have been spoilt. After the immediate shock of the financial crisis had passed, the monetary interventions of central banks resulted in some very benign funding conditions for large corporates, which are unlikely to disappear in the near future. As we have noted in this magazine, however, these conditions cannot and will not last for ever. At some point, it will become harder – and more expensive – for big businesses to raise finance again. Treasurers aren’t complacent about this fact, of course, which is why many of them have been busily making the best of the sunny fundraising weather while they can. To some extent, we are all on high alert with regard to current market conditions. Treasurers, in particular, share a pervasive sense of unease about just how long things are going to stay this good. We know that the markets will change; the question is when? With this in mind, we decided to look at the private placement markets in the US and Europe in this issue of The Treasurer. After all, diversification is a very important part of many companies’ funding policies at present and it never hurts to know what your options are. Also, there have been some interesting developments in Europe, where momentum is building behind a potential pan-European private placement market. To find out more, see our feature, starting on page 20. One treasury team that has been very busy on the funding front in recent times is the team at Deutsche Annington. The German residential landlord’s treasury team won the European Treasury Team of the Year award at The Treasurer’s Deals of the Year Awards dinner in February 2015 (see The Treasurer, February 2015, page 28). In this issue, we find out just what the team did to land that accolade, and how it accomplished it. Don’t miss our profile interview, on page 26. We are now just weeks away from the ACT Annual Conference, which takes place in Manchester this year. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible there. In the meantime, we are always looking for treasurers who would like to share case studies or best practice in The Treasurer, so please do drop me a line if you would like to write for us. Enjoy the issue.
