Norway

Intesa Sanpaolo has opened books on its first mortgage covered bond, backed by self-originated residential mortgage backed securities, with what a syndicate official described as an “eye-catching” level. Meanwhile, Nordea is preparing a roadshow to introduce Finnish covered bond plans.

DnB Nor Boligkreditt debuted in the US market with a $2bn (Eu1.43bn) five year issue on Wednesday that gave it tighter pricing than was available in euros, but the issuer told The Cover that strong US demand was the most pleasing aspect of the benchmark.

Italy’s UBI Banca will today (Thursday) price a Eu500m five year issue on the back of modest demand, while DnB Nor Boligkreditt yesterday sold its first dollar benchmark covered bond and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce priced its first covered bond in the Kangaroo market.

ING Bank and Terra BoligKreditt reopened the covered bond market for jumbo and sub-jumbo issuance, respectively, and The Cover spoke to the institutions about the timing and execution of their new issues.

Covered bond supply eased today (Wednesday) after some Eu5.3bn of supply in the past three working days, with no new deals officially live and only DnB Nor, Erste and CRH wrapping up issuance yesterday afternoon.

DnB Nor Boligkreditt is pricing a Eu1.5bn seven year covered bond today (Tuesday) after ING Bank reopened the jumbo market yesterday, while further jumbo, sub-jumbo and roadshow projects are in motion.

ING Bank launched the first Eu1bn-plus covered bond issue of the autumn season this (Monday) morning, with DnB Nor Boligkreditt announcing a new benchmark afterwards. At least one more mandate is expected soon, but some bankers said that the restraint being shown by issuers was encouraging.

Terra Boligkreditt reopened the covered bond market with a Eu500m issue this (Friday) morning that bankers said bodes well for an expected surge in issuance over the coming weeks.

Moody’s assigned an A3 rating, on stable outlook, to Norway’s Sparebanken Sør yesterday (Thursday).

The first publicly announced covered bond mandate since the middle of July hit the screens today (Wednesday), with Norway’s Terra Boligkreditt announcing that it has hired banks to carry out investor meetings. And despite a lack of other public plans, syndicate bankers are eying next week for the resumption of new issue activity.

Moody’s yesterday (Monday) assigned a definitive rating of Aa3 to commercial mortgage-backed covered bonds issued by SpareBank 1 Næringskreditt.

Fitch yesterday (Thursday) rated Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt A- on stable outlook, citing the strong integration and support it could receive from its owner Sparebanken Vest in the event of need.