Europe

North Rhine-Westphalia is set to become the first German state and one of a handful of European sub-sovereign borrowers to enter the green bond market, after mandating banks on Wednesday to roadshow for its inaugural deal in the format.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) priced the tightest and lowest yielding euro benchmark covered bond from a non-German issuer on Tuesday. The strong result is a testimony to the return of relative value and shows that, despite the historically low absolute yield, investors are desperate for covered bonds which are structurally under-supplied, but for which there is a durable regulatory bid.

The Swedish regulator’s proposal to lower the covered bond swap counterparty rating threshold to single A from double A is credit positive, said Moody’s on Monday. Though at odds with overall European covered bond rules in the Capital Requirements Regulation and Directive, the proposal would allow banks to continue receive preferential regulatory treatment on their covered bond investments.

DNB Boligkreditt has stepped in to take advantage of demand in five year sterling floaters identified last week when JP Morgan issued a senior unsecured deal. On Monday, the Norwegian bank was set to become the first issuer this year to extend the sterling FRN covered bond curve to five years, with all other deals this year opting for three year tenor.

The public sector French covered bond issuer, Caisse Française de Financement Local, announced on Friday that by the second quarter 2015 it will be able to add export loan collateral guaranteed by the French credit agency, Coface, to its covered bond collateral pool.

Standard and Poor’s has completed the review of Spanish mortgage covered bonds following a change in its methodology, leading to a number of upgrades. Analysts said the agency’s rating process was complex and not easy to understand.

Investors were eager to buy Vorarlberger Landes-Und Hypothekenbank’s mortgage-backed Pfandbrief on Wednesday. The deal’s success suggests few were worried about the issuer’s Swiss franc exposure, possibly because the income of many obligors is also in Swiss francs.

A new narrative on Greece has emerged. Syriza, the country’s recently elected left-wing party, has for months been known across Europe and across capital markets exclusively for its anti-austerity views. Now, we are hearing something at once more surprising and more worrying: that Greece, under its new government, is beginning to side with Putin’s Russia.

BPCE has harnessed the most highly oversubscribed book of the year for its covered bond debut of 2014. The French issuer and Belfius Bank, which both launched deals on Tuesday morning, have benefitted from the sovereign bond market’s rally which has restored relative value in core covered bond markets and brought back demand from triple A rates investors.

HSH Nordbank was set to price its first Pfandbrief backed by ships (Schiffspfandbrief) in five years on Tuesday. The Baa2-rated deal was never likely to appeal to the broad investor base that buys mortgage-backed deals, but with an attractive spread it still managed to get an oversubscribed book.

Vorarlberger Landes-Und Hypothekenbank (Vorhyp) has mandated leads for a sub benchmark sized mortgage Pfandbrief.

Afren, the Africa-focused oil exploration company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has avoided default on a $300m loan after obtaining a deferral from banks on the $50m amortisation payment that was due on Saturday January 31 for its Ebok debt facility.