Covered Bonds

With one of the most thinly oversubscribed Norwegian covered bonds in years, Sparebanken Vest Boligreditt (SpaVest) was barely able to tighten pricing this week. It followed Berlin Hyp, which was unable to tighten pricing at all.

Berlin Hyp left some new issue premium on the table for investors on Monday, while Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt lined up a deal for Tuesday. ANZ New Zealand was also considering covered or senior unsecured issuance.

Santander's co-head of FIG trading has left the bank. GlobalCapital understands.

Berlin Hyp is expected to extend its covered bond curve and open order books for an eight year mortgage-backed Pfandbrief early next week, after mandating joint leads on Friday.

Deutsche Bank found fleeting funding consolation with a tightly priced Pfandbrief this week but, with a considerable funding requirement left to fill, the German bank is braced for a return to senior and subordinated markets where support is likely to be more flighty. Bill Thornhill reports.

United Overseas Bank has mandated joint leads for a covered bond roadshow in the UK with a view to potentially issuing its sterling debut. Singapore peer DBS Bank undertook a roadshow in the UK two years ago but did not follow up with a deal.

Covered bond investors are setting more conditions on their orders, joining order books later, and limiting tenors they will buy, anxious to avoid buying bonds that will underperform. Despite the picky investor base, Swedbank still raised a €1bn five year at a record tight spread.

In the absence of primary activity, the European Central Bank maintained its strong presence in the covered bond market over the last week by stepping up secondary purchases. At the same time, investors have avoided punitive negative yields by buying three year non-Eurozone bonds.

Deutsche Bank avoided senior unsecured and subordinated bond markets, where its paper has widened considerably, to raise €500m of seven year covered bond funding on Wednesday. The bank paid virtually no new issue premium.

Borrowers have returned to the FIG primary market, but investors are hoping for greater new issue premiums.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt came to the market on Tuesday with a five year covered bond, as market participants suggested that new issue premiums could start to rise.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt has mandated joint leads for a new euro covered bond, the second five year transaction from a investment grade European issuer this year.