Europe

Hypo NOE Gruppe Bank yesterday (Tuesday) sold an inaugural, Eu500m maximum three year public sector Pfandbrief that an official at the issuer told The Cover attracted a satisfactory level of investor attention taking into account an active primary market and the bank’s newcomer status.

Leeds Building Society yesterday (Tuesday) became the first UK issuer to publicly place a sterling residential mortgage covered bond, a move that an official at the issuer told The Cover he hopes will help generate momentum in the development of a domestic covered bond market.

Fitch placed AAA rated mortgage covered bonds issued by Banco Espírito Santo, Millenium BCP, and Banco BPI on negative review yesterday (Tuesday), following a downgrade of the banks’ ratings the previous day.

Abbey National Treasury Services plans to issue registered covered bonds off a Eu25bn global covered bond programme, the issuer announced yesterday (Monday).

Nordea Bank Finland will today (Tuesday) price a Eu2bn five year inaugural benchmark covered bond after building one of the biggest order books for a euro issue this year, while Austria’s Hypo NOE Gruppe Bank met with sufficient demand to sell a Eu500m three year inaugural public sector Pfandbrief.

An April 2016 Caisse de Refinancement de l’Habitat issue was the only new benchmark covered bond live in the market this (Monday) morning, but with three other issuers lining up deals and two more borrowers announcing mandates the pipeline of forthcoming new issues and roadshows is well stocked.

Norway’s Ministry of Finance is considering a recommendation from the country’s central bank that would allow Norwegian issuers to repurchase early covered bonds submitted as part of a government swap arrangement and thereby better manage their refinancing needs.

Leeds Building Society is lining up to re-open the sterling covered bond market next week, while other inaugural deals are expected to lead a resumption of new benchmark issuance in euros.

Sampo Housing Loan Bank is preparing to resume issuing covered bonds for the first time since being acquired by Danske Bank in 2006 as part of a takeover of its parent, Sampo Bank, an official at Dankse told The Cover.

A Eu350m Cajamar tap yesterday (Wednesday) brought euro benchmark issuance this week to Eu700m, the lowest level since supply restarted at the end of August, but market participants expect primary market activity to pick up next week.

Fitch will in the coming weeks reassess Discontinuity Factors assigned to Portuguese covered bond programmes after a review of its analysis of the country’s covered bond framework revealed that the latter leaves “some residual exposure” to an issuing financial institution, the rating agency said yesterday (Wednesday).

Spain’s Cajamar is gathering orders for a tap of a 3.5% October 2014 issue that is being marketed at a level around 205bp wider than where the original deal was sold in October 2009, while Crédit Agricole yesterday (Tuesday) priced a Eu350m increase of a October 2025 deal in response to domestic investor interest in longer maturities and some shorts in the market.