Currencies

CajaSur has issued the lowest rated Spanish covered bond, a Eu400m five year floating rate note rated A1 by Moody’s. Meanwhile, buybacks announced by La Caixa take its total for this year to more than Eu1.35bn.

A series of new issues at aggressive levels in what could be the busiest ever week in the covered bond market has raised fears among investors that the asset class is facing a bubble.

Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa will this (Tuesday) afternoon price its Eu1bn five year cédulas hipotecarias debut at 58bp over mid-swaps, a “punchy” level that bankers said signalled that pricing expectations might need to be revised tighter. And a tighter level than expected is already being rumoured on the first of several new issues in the pipeline, which includes Dutch, Portuguese and Italian supply.

UBI Banca experienced one of the fastest official bookbuilds for a covered bond when its Eu1bn seven year obbligazioni bancarie garantite debut attracted more than Eu6.5bn of orders in just 15 minutes yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, according to a syndicate official at one of the leads.

Landesbank Berlin has launched a second issue of mortgage-backed covered bonds off its Daheim 1 programme, one of two LBB structured covered bond programmes.

In brief: UBI Banca has opened books on its debut obbligazioni bancarie garantite, a seven year issue that is capped at Eu1bn.

Caisse de Refinancement de l’Habitat this (Friday) morning reopened its 5% April 2019 benchmark. Leads Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Natixis and Société Générale priced a Eu750m increase at 45bp over mid-swaps.

Banco Pastor yesterday (Thursday) launched a Eu1bn four and a half year cédulas hipotecarias in its first visit to the jumbo covered bond market since September 2006. The issue is the first not to have been priced at the tight end of guidance since the market reopened after the summer break, but the issuer told The Cover that it is happy with the level.

The execution of the Bank of Ireland’s Eu1.5bn covered bond priced yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon was the culmination of a process set in motion by the announcement of the European Central Bank’s Eu60bn purchase programme in early May, the issuer told The Cover, that allowed it to reopen the market for unguaranteed Irish issuance.

Banco Pastor is pricing a Eu1bn four and a half year cédulas hipotecarias issue this (Thursday) afternoon at 75bp over mid-swaps, after confirming the mandate for its new issue yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.

Bank of Ireland as good as signalled the complete recovery of the covered bond market, in terms of access at least, by launching a Eu1.5bn five year deal that is the first Irish issue in the public markets since June 2007. And while spreads for such issuers may remain at unprecedented levels, the strong rally is nevertheless encouraging many credits to explore possible new issues.