Germany

The primary market’s calm this week has come as no surprise, but bankers are looking for clues to future activity and BankInter is regarded by some as having the necessary strength to reopen the Spanish market, with the multi-sellers finding little favour in the current market.

Moody’s has assigned a triple-A rating to Series 1 of Landesbank Berlin’s (LBB) Daheim 2 structured covered bond programme.

Deutsche Apotheker und Ärztebank eG (apoBank), Germany’s largest primary co-operative bank, with Eu35.9bn of total assets as of 30 June 2007, plans to issue its first mortgage Pfandbrief.

With the secondary market avoiding negative headlines for once, market participants were pleased to report stable spreads across the board. Following the first French issuance of the year last week, German bonds have become increasingly isolated, leaving traders and analysts to discuss the growing gap with France.

The once-proud name of Hypothekenbank in Essen is taking its last bow with the announcement today that Commerzbank will be merging it into Eurohypo. The disappearance of one of the trailblazers of the jumbo Pfandbrief market was seen as inevitable since last year when Commerzbank made clear its intention to take full control of its part subsidiary and with the resignation of Essenhyp founder and chairman Hubert Schulte-Kemper last March.

Analysts embarked on a perilous quest at the IMN covered bond conference in London yesterday afternoon. Armed only with data and pricing models, they set off in pursuit of relative value, pausing briefly to discuss adequate disclosure.

Landesbank Berlin has mandated Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort and UniCredit for a public sector jumbo Pfandbrief issue, which is expected after a European roadshow later this month. Meanwhile, the bank’s plans to launch what would be the first structured covered bond from Germany are still live.

Deutsche Postbank has priced its first jumbo mortgage Pfandbrief at 2bp, the tight end of the 2bp-4bp guidance. Following the SEB’s success, Postbank made it a good week for debut issues with a rapid bookbuilding process and strong secondary market performance.

HSH Nordbank has priced the first jumbo shipping Pfandbrief flat against mid-swaps, at the tight end of guidance. The two year deal’s final size was fixed at Eu1bn after gathering over Eu3bn in orders.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) looks set to successfully re-open the long end of the covered bond market. Pricing of 20bp over mid-swaps proved enough to attract Eu1.46bn of orders, allowing the final size of the deal to be set at Eu1.25bn. Final pricing is expected this afternoon (Wednesday).

The champagne was out for the launch of the first ever jumbo ship Pfandbrief, HSH Nordbank’s two year deal, which attracted more than Eu3bn of orders by midday CET and could be priced at the tight end of guidance.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) has mandated Calyon, HSBC and Natixis for its benchmark sized obligation foncière to be launched in the near future. Lead managers are believed to be keeping their options open on the maturity of the deal.