Europe

The debate over SSA underwriting fees, ignited by the EU’s decision to publish a lower fee schedule, is raging on with bankers and issuers saying it is pushing other topics aside.

Sparkasse Holstein has obtained a provisional rating from DBRS for its mortgage Pfandbriefe, though whether this leads to distributed issuance remains to be seen.

Germany has picked banks for its eagerly awaited 30 year green bond. Bankers expect the deal to go well since it will be one of the rare German syndications to offer a positive yield.

KommuneKredit made a strong return to the sterling market on Friday with its biggest ever single offering in currency.

The IPO of hGears, the German maker of high-precision gears for e-mobility, was covered on Monday, less than a day into book building, according to a source close to the deal.

The European Union has sent banks a request for proposals (RFP) for what is expected to the final Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) transaction of the second quarter.

Aegon Bank has registered its soft bullet covered bond programme with the Dutch central bank and has published its base prospectus, suggesting it could be ready to mandate leads after posting results this week. Aegon follows NN Bank, which became the first Dutch bank to switch away from using conditional pass through (CPT) covered bonds, with Achmea Bank set to follow.

Nordea made a rare entry into the euro tier two market on Monday, taking advantage of strong issuance conditions to steer its pricing in close to fair value.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s New Zealand subsidiary, ASB Finance, has mandated leads for the first Kiwi covered bond since January 2019. At the same time, Berlin Hyp has appointed lead managers for a 12 year mortgage Pfandbrief.

BNP Paribas has made two senior hires in European equity capital markets as part of its ambitious challenge to top the region’s league table positions.

Aquila Capital, the German investment company focused on sustainable investments, is launching a new London-listed fund focused on energy efficiency assets in Europe.

Crédit Agricole has promoted four staffers to fill vacant and newly created positions in its debt capital markets leadership team, including global head of financial institutions DCM and head of European corporate DCM.