Euro

Terra Boligkreditt successfully raised €500m of five year funding on Wednesday morning, nearly five months after it first mandated for a deal. German and Nordic investors looked past the bond’s Aa2 rating from Moody’s, allowing the issuer to price inside guidance on the back of an oversubscribed book.

Secondary market activity has slowed from the brisk pace in the first two weeks of the year but the market remains well supported, particularly in the short end where offers out to three years have started to disappear. Better buying has also been reported in peripheral credits, leading participants to speculate that primary supply might be forthcoming. With the exception of ANZ’s 10-year, the long end is also performing well.

Some 43% of National Bank of Greece covered bondholders submitted their paper for buyback below par, helping the bank reach a €300m core tier one gain through its liability management exercise.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia opened books on the first Australian dollar transaction from a domestic bank on Monday, while Bank of New Zealand began taking indications of interest for that jurisdiction’s first trade of 2012.

Syndicate bankers had expected Thursday’s ECB meeting to curtail supply, but BPCE has courageously squeezed through the funding window with a competitively priced €850m 10-year tap.

As a result of deal announcements and the new issue premium, secondary market turnover has been hit, with spreads moving on little volume. Curves have conspicuously steepened in France but DexMA remains out of line.

ABN Amro and Credit Suisse maintained primary market momentum on Wednesday, adding another €2.25bn of supply. ABN Amro paid above initial price thoughts to ensure smooth execution of its 10 year, while Credit Suisse was able to price its five year inside UBS’s offering last week — making it the tightest five year euro print of the year.

RBS has issued the second sterling covered bond this year and its debut deal in the currency. It chose to differentiate itself from Barclays’ 10 year deal with a longer 12 year. In so doing, it attracted a strong order book enabling it to price in line with guidance and the deal has since performed well, in contrast to Barclays.

Having aimed for a maximum €2bn deal, Nordea Bank Finland ended up printing an even larger trade after its July 2017 drew €3bn of demand. The €2.25bn deal, increased off the back of ECB Covered Bond Purchase Programme participation, is the largest Nordic covered bond ever.

The covered bond primary market continues to enjoy good momentum, with as many as four issuers collectively raising the equivalent of around €5bn in the four to 12 year area across two currencies.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Aareal bank and Compagnie de Financement Foncier successfully raised a collective €2.5bn on Monday, opening the way for Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Nordea and Credit Mutuel-CIC - which are expected to launch and price deals on Tuesday.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group became the first Australian issuer to launch a second syndicated benchmark on Monday. Looking to differentiate itself from dual five year euro debuts from Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank last week, the borrower tapped the crowded long end with a 10-1/2 year jumbo.