Euro

Caixa Geral de Depósitos tapped its Eu2bn December 2016 issue for Eu150m through Lehman Brothers on Friday in its first public covered bond issuance in the benchmark market this year.

Dexia Kommunalbank gave the jumbo Pfandbrief market its first test since inter-dealer market-making commitments were resumed this (Monday) morning. Spreads were wider than on Friday, as expected, but the medium term outlook was unclear.

Münchener Hypothekenbank achieved sub-Libor pricing on a Eu1bn three year public sector Pfandbrief launched yesterday (Monday) morning, taking advantage of its rarity and careful approach to the market to score a tighter result than its peers.

Bayerische Landesbank has priced a three year public sector Pfandbrief at 1bp over mid-swaps, the tight end of 1bp-2bp over guidance. Meanwhile Eurohypo completed up its Eu1bn deal and, according to the issuer, its expected benchmark mortgage Pfandbrief issuance for the year.

Swedbank has closed books on its Eu1bn two year issue and priced the mortgage backed deal at 22bp over mid-swaps, the middle of guidance, bringing to a successful conclusion an exercise that had several hurdles to overcome along the way.

Bayerische Landesbank opened books on a three public sector Pfandbrief benchmark this (Thursday) morning as Eurohypo was closing books on a Eu1bn five year mortgage backed jumbo. However, the two projects were sufficiently different for the two to progress smoothly.

Swedbank opened books on a two year mortgage backed benchmark this (Thursday) morning some 5bp back from where some accounts were sounded out earlier this week, suggesting that the issuer was suffering from launching a deal in almost direct competition with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, which priced its Eu1bn three year mortgage backed deal yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.

In brief: Crédit Agricole has mandated the first issue off its new covered bond programme to Barclays Capital, Calyon and UniCredit. The deal is expected in mid-September after a European roadshow.

*This week, all league tables will rank lead managers according to performance from 16 August 2007 to 16 August 2008 and compare them with rankings for the prior year.

Münchener Hypothekenbank could open the post-summer primary market, having mandated BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, DZ Bank and UniCredit Group for a public sector jumbo Pfandbrief to be launched in the coming weeks. The fate of the deal could set the tone for the early autumn issuance season.