Currencies

Banco Espírito Santo priced only its second covered this (Thursday) morning and the final size was enough to make it the largest covered bond in over a month. Those outside the deal said it was a pleasant surprise that two benchmarks could be priced during a bumpy week.

Banco Espírito Santo opened books on a new short dated mortgage backed transaction this (Wednesday) morning, apparently refuting suggestions that conditions had turned against a second new benchmark this week. Bankers with outstanding mandates from Italy and Portugal admitted that this turn of events could cause them to readjust their plans, but only if the issuance window can be held open in the face of pressure from the wider financial markets.

Dexia LdG Banque could become a regular visitor to the public markets after its debut benchmark this autumn, Véronique Hugues, global head of long term funding at Dexia, told The Cover yesterday (Monday).

Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM) yesterday (Monday) priced the first Eu1bn covered bond since Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo’s two year in mid-June. However, market participants said that today’s plummeting equity markets had sunk any hopes of a meaningful recovery.

Banca Popolare di Milano (BPM) took the plunge before the summer break this morning, opening books on it debut euro benchmark covered bond, the first from Italy. One syndicate manager outside the deal welcomed it for establishing Italy where it belonged in his view, although disconcertingly for fans of orthodox geography he suggested this was somewhere between France and Portugal.

“What do Dexia Kommunalbank, EIB, Hypo Real Estate International, DexMA, Berlin Hyp, WL Bank and NRW.Bank all have in common?” asked Dresdner Kleinwort’s analysts in their latest Pfandbrief Weekly yesterday (Wednesday).

Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank (apoBank) failed to reach its stated ambition yesterday (Tuesday), when it was forced to price a sub-benchmark sized deal despite targeting a jumbo debut. Market participants were split on whether this and other recent struggles have been caused by bad luck or bad advice.

Deutsche Apotheker und Ärztebank (apoBank), Germany’s largest primary co-operative bank, opened books on its debut mortgage Pfandbrief this (Tuesday) morning. Bookbuilding was proving to be a drawn out process, with several factors said to be working against apoBank.

Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo continued the Spanish march to increasingly wide levels when it priced its debut Eu1bn two year cédulas on Friday afternoon. Despite claims last week that this was damaging the wider market, one lead manager robustly defended the pricing, saying it should have no impact on core names.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier kept its ambitions modest this (Friday) morning in the tough market, going out with an 18 month obligations foncières issue at mid-swaps flat that could be limited to Eu500m.

Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo looked to be taking the record covered bond benchmark spread 7bp wider this (Friday) morning with guidance of 80bp over mid-swaps for a two year cédulas just two days after Banco Pastor priced its Eu1bn two year at 73bp over. But while the pricing was seen as necessary for the deal to get done, it caused dismay in the wider market where other potential issuers have been finding soft-sounding frustrating.

Spain’s Banco Pastor successfully priced a new Eu1bn two year cédulas hipotecarias at the widest ever level for a publicly offered covered bond, with one lead manager saying this was simply the level investors would buy at, and that market volatility meant that even comparing new issues to bonds launched as recently as May was fruitless.