Germany

Moody’s has assigned a triple A rating to the €199m of commercial mortgage back Pfandbriefe issued by NATIXIS Pfandbriefbank AG.

German issuers have struggled to price deals much through swaps this year, but if there was one issuer that could, it was always likely to be Münchener Hypothekenbank. After pricing a €500m five year at 14bp through mid-swaps this time last year, it returned to the covered bond market on Thursday with a more generously priced and larger deal which, despite being this year’s tightest, still managed to offer some performance potential.

HSH Nordbank and Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien joined the rush of issuers bringing deals on Wednesday, selling five year and seven year no grow €500m benchmarks, respectively. While RLB NW continued the price tightening trend for Austrian landesbanks, HSH Nordbank offered a generous spread to make sure any rating or reputational concerns among investors were cast aside.

Five issuers from France, Germany, Ireland, Austria and Italy have joined the covered bond pipeline. And, with the European Central Bank ready to consider further extraordinary liquidity measures, the conducive technical backdrop looks set to remain. Despite this, the longer term supply outlook remains uncertain and overall issuance, which is at the decade’s low, is not about to improve.

The four euro benchmarks that were priced this week are mostly trading slightly tighter in the secondary market, despite being priced with very small new issue premiums. Along with a period of benign macroeconomic news, the negative net supply of euro benchmarks in 2013 has created a particularly supportive backdrop for new issues, according to covered bond bankers.

The resumption of post-summer covered bond supply continued on Thursday, including the first issue out of peripheral Europe. UniCredit’s €1bn seven year was priced at the tight end of guidance, while Belgian bank KBC also tapped the market for a €750m three year that was well received, confirming the window for issuance remains wide open.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank priced its fourth covered bond of the year, a no grow €500m five year, only 2bp above its outstanding curve on Wednesday, mimicking the tight pricing in Nordea Bank Finland’s five year trade a day earlier.

The quality of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank’s (Pbb) mortgage and public sector cover pools is set to improve at the end of this quarter after a transfer of assets through German wind-up agency FMS Wertmanagement.

Münchener Hypothekenbank priced a €250m tap of its July 2028 on Wednesday with demand driven by reverse enquiry and short positions among dealers. Despite a lacklustre launch, the rarity of the name and this tenor suggested it would always perform well and Wednesday’s tap proved just that.

Berlin-Hannoversche Hypothekenbank sold a €250m long three year Pfandbrief in floating rate format on Monday, in a deal that was largely distributed among the savings bank networks of lead managers Norddeutsche Landesbank and WGZ Bank.

The European covered bond market was well supported on Monday by a combination of technical and fundamental factors. Negative net issuance is set to increase, this week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting is expected to be supportive and the outcome of this September’s German elections is looking more certain.

Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen (Helaba) seized on concerted demand for five year paper and a solid market opening on Thursday to price a €500m tap of its outstanding 1% June 2018 bond, paying only a few basis points over secondary levels.