DZ Bank

Municipality Finance this week enjoyed a boost to its plans to term out its funding, as an investor placed a reverse enquiry order for a record breaking long dated euro note.

DG Hyp enjoyed solid demand for a long nine year Pfandbrief deal this week as, despite the measly new issue concession, it offered an unusually high pick-up against Bunds.

As the first non-German bank in the eurozone to price a €1bn covered bond in over a month, OP Mortgage Bank was perhaps overly careful with its initial approach to pricing. But the plan paid off.

After a month of much slower supply, increasingly desperate covered bond investors clamoured to buy a long nine year Hypothekenpfandbrief issued on Wednesday by DG Hyp. Though the bonds offered little new issue concession, interest was also boosted by the deal’s hefty spread over Bunds.

Covered bond supply is likely to recover over the next week or two, particularly in core Europe where spreads to Bunds have become more attractive, which bodes well for DH Hyp’s forthcoming Pfandbrief. But for non-eurozone issuers, senior funding is likely to prove more attractive.

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and WL Bank successively priced the tightest covered bonds of the year this week and both were able to tighten pricing to a greater extent than any previous German issuer.

United Overseas Bank this week became the first issuer to price covered bonds simultaneously in euros and dollars, helping it to attract new, especially Asian, investors.

The Asia debt market saw a fresh rush of dollar deals on Wednesday, with property names China Jinmao Holdings Group and Xinhu Zhongbao, as well as Singapore’s United Overseas Bank launching new deals.

With more than 100 investors in the book and an oversubscription ratio of nearly three times, Nord/LB’s Luxembourg subsidiary enjoyed one of the best receptions of any €500m covered bond seen this year and one that was much better than all its previous deals.

A few of Europe's smaller borrowers are trying their luck now that the storm of issuance that thronged markets through most of January has abated.

SpareBank1 Boligkreditt, Aareal Bank and Nordea took advantage of strong demand for five year paper to issue oversubscribed deals this week, paying virtually no new issue concession.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt and Aareal Bank issued well oversubscribed covered bonds on Wednesday, paying virtually no new issue concession. Both banks took advantage of enduring demand for five year tenors, while for Aareal the issue was cheaper than the European Central Bank’s term liquidity.