Covered Bonds

Deutsche Bank is set to go on the road and market its first Cédulas Hipotecarias while DBS Bank of Singapore is set to market the first Asian covered bond in sterling

Six borrowers raised nearly €5bn in the covered bond market this week, once again surpassing supply expectations. The star attraction, notable for both its size and tenor, was a €1.5bn three year from the Norwegian issuer, Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt.

The Norwegian issuer surprised the markets with a rare three year on Wednesday. The deal was one of the largest issued in euros this year and attracted an exceptionally high quality order book, though the oversubscription ratio was less convincing.

TSB's UK prime RMBS programme made a solid start on Wednesday afternoon, as the bank placed a debut £537m-equivalent deal in sterling and euros. The issuer retained over two thirds of the sterling tranche despite offering a decent spread pick-up, but the euro tranche priced strongly.

Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank, or apoBank, received a strong endorsement from investors for its first benchmark Pfandbrief in more than seven years.

A comparison of existing European covered bond laws suggests German credit quality will be hit hardest if Europe adopts a single covered bond framework. The European Commission has proposed a Pan-European covered bond law, prompting Moody’s to release the study this week.

Development Bank of Singapore has announced that it will go on the road to market a sterling-denominated covered bond. The bank would be the first Asian issuer to sell a deal of this kind.

Caixabank, Spain’s largest retail bank, priced a €1bn five year deal on Wednesday, attracting investors with a generous new issue premium. The transaction attracted the broadest and deepest distribution of any Spanish deal since July.

Market sentiment improved towards the back of last week when some pipelined deals burst into the market, and that sentiment has continued to improve in the early throes of this week.

Just four months after its inaugural covered bond, Singaporean lender DBS is once again looking to venture into the market, mandating four banks to run a series of investor meetings. But rather than targeting the same investor base, the issuer has set its sights on a sterling-denominated trade.

Initial price thoughts have been indicated for TSB’s first UK prime RMBS deal, with the transaction offering a pick up on both the euro and sterling tranches for investors, compared to more established issuers.

Deutsche Bank is set to go on the road and market its first Cédulas Hipotecarias, which was rated Aa2 with Moody’s on Monday.