Europe

Looking ahead, market participants expect more deals to emerge. This morning Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena announced that Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Mediobanca, MPS Capital Services, Natixis and Nomura will lead manage a euro benchmark in the near future. Elsewhere in Italy, Credito Emiliano is expected having been on a non-deal roadshow last year.

Sentiment in Spain has improved dramatically in the last week, helped by a buoyant SSA sector along with an announcement from the Spanish finance minister of a set of measures which include ensuring funding for Spanish banks. Second and even third tier Spanish institutions could conceivably issue, though it’s likely more time will be needed before a multi-cédulas deal is possible.

Santander’s Holmes 2011-1 issue will feature a hard bullet 0.9 year ‘A1’ dollar tranche, as well as a 2.9 year ‘A2’ dollar tranche, and 4.9 year ‘A3’ euro and ‘A4’ sterling tranches. The issuer has preplaced the $500m A1 notes. All the tranches will be floating rate, with the ‘A1’ notes benchmarked to one month Libor, and the other tranches to three month Libor or Euribor.

Measures to be implemented by the Spanish government in order to restore market confidence in the economy and domestic financial institutions could allow lower tier Spanish banks to resume issuance analysts say.

The mood is buoyant and several deals look likely to be announced before long. LTSB and Nationwide have been added to the existing rumours of La Caixa and Sabadell, but with sentiment improving issuers are thinking the market is on a roll so maybe they are better placed to wait a few days more, in which case funding costs could be shaved by even more.

Société Générale yesterday (Wednesday) priced its Eu1bn 4.25% 2023, a deal conspicuous for its level of oversubscription, the highest of any covered bond deal so far this year. Buoyant sentiment and rarity clearly played a role –along with the pervasive new issue premium which, not surprisingly given the scale of demand, was deemed by some to be too large.

Despite decent selling of 10-year paper in the secondary market, the overall tone remains very positive. In the primary market this was most conspicuous in the books for SG’s Eu1bn 12-year, which has attracted the largest oversubscription so far this year. Banco Popular's deal has also gone smoothly.

The new issue market is gingerly picking up steam with CIF Euromortgage imminent and Kommunalkredit on the road. Sentiment is positive and has been boosted by a likely strong result for the EFSF deal. That said it’s clear that issuers must continue to offer attractive new issue premiums especially in France, the most prolific of regions so far this year.

Delta Lloyd’s Arena 2011-1, the first European ABS deal of the year, priced at the tight end of guidance on Friday, signalling that the market is ready for more Dutch prime.

The covered bond primary market has ground to a halt as players look to the upcoming EFSF issue, which is due to price Tuesday. Once that’s out of the way there are high hopes the market will rebound, particularly for Spanish bonds which have performed well recently.

Crédit Agricole has recently been on a hiring spree in the covered bond and SSA space.

The UK’s Nationwide Building Society today priced a groundbreaking 15-year covered bond which, for the first time, has attracted UK insurance company demand on a scale that was, until recently, not imaginable. Recent changes to Solvency II, a significant back up in spreads and several other factors have forced these buyers to look at the product with a fresh set of eyes. And where Nationwide has trailed –others are sure to follow.