Covered Bonds

DZ Hyp has announced plans to issue a €750m four year mortgage Pfandbrief which will compete for investors’ attention alongside other sub-benchmark Pfandbriefe from DekaBank and Overbank. A fourth issuer is also expected to announce a benchmark covered bond in euros, with execution likely before lunchtime on Tuesday.

NordLB Luxembourg attracted exceptionally strong demand for its inaugural renewable energy covered bond on Monday — the first ever to be issued under the country’s new legal framework. This was despite the deal being sub-benchmark size and not eligible for the European Central Bank’s covered bond purchase programme.

After a brisk start to the year, the pace of covered bond supply had already begun to slow by Thursday amid growing concern that the European Central Bank would be compelled to step up purchases, igniting fears of a technical squeeze. Bill Thornhill reports.

A lack of supply relative to 2019 and much more aggressive central bank buying ensured that Banco Sabadell, Royal Bank of Canada and OP Mortgage Bank were able to price covered bonds flat to fair value this week.

Austrian covered bond borrowers Bawag PSK, UniCredit Bank Austria and RLB Oberösterreich found a warm reception for their €500m no-grow deals this week.

BPCE, Credit Mutuel Home loan (CM-CIC) and Axa Bank issued French covered bonds this week with Axa issuing its first transaction under a new and lower rated Belgian ownership structure.

Helaba, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (PBB) had little trouble accessing the Pfandbrief market this week with a series of deals that were priced flat to their curves.

An Estonian covered bond could soon be due in the market after Moody’s rated Luminor Bank’s programme this week — the first to be structured under the country’s newly established law. The rating comes after the European Central Bank granted Luminor a license to issue covered bonds in December.

NordLB Luxembourg was expected to arrive in the market with its inaugural renewable energy covered bond late last year, having completed a market programme and mandated lead managers. On Thursday it finally plucked up the courage to re-announce the long-awaited deal — the first to be ever issued under the country’s new law.

Credit Mutuel Home Loan SFH (CM-CIC) completed a busy week in the euro covered bond market with a €1.25bn 10 year offering on Thursday. The deal emerged amid growing concern that euro covered bond supply will fall, as borrowers like SCBC, Danske Bank and Nordea turn to local currency markets, while others see better alternative funding opportunities, or simply bide their time.

Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale (Helaba) and Bawag enjoyed heavy demand for their covered bonds, issued on Wednesday, amid growing concern that January’s usual supply surge is about to come to an abrupt end.

Covered bond investors are increasingly confident about taking on duration and credit risk as yields are set to be stable and spreads should remain well supported, an asset manager told GlobalCapital on Wednesday.