Pre-migration untagged articles

Santander Totta priced its debut covered bond on Wednesday morning, a Eu1bn three year deal that was regarded as correctly pitched in terms of pricing despite little presounding, and reinforced the stability of re-offer levels in the primary market.

EUROPEAN investors returned from public holidays with buying orders for private placements and structured notes but the market never reached the frantic pace set by the public market this week.

THE ARRIVAL of two new arbitrage CLOs this week has prompted speculation that the market wouldat last make a comeback.

The Swiss franc bond market kept itself busy in what was another four day week, thanks to holidays, managing to price at least one deal a day. While the multi tranche deals once more enjoyed the largest volumes it was far from just a retread of recent weeks, with an unusual cast of issuers, as well as a novel pattern of demand across one dual tranche bond.

VODAFONE this week became the latest elite corporate name to tap the Schuldschein market offering further proof of the German debt instrument’s growing international following.

Glitnir Bank ASA, the Norwegian arm of the Icelandic-headquartered banking group, met all its remaining refinancing needs for the year through the sale of Nkr7bn (Eu890m) of covered bonds by BN Boligkreditt this week.

Investors in Europe and Asia lapped up supply of some A$1.2bn ($1.13bn) from four issuers in Kangaroos and Eurobonds this week as the Australian dollar continued to appeal to buyers searching for yield and high-quality credits.

MONOLINE bond insurer, A declared a first quarter net loss of $2.4bn this week. It wrote down a mark to market loss of $3.6bn on insured credit derivatives, and realised a $1.34bn pre-tax impairments and loss reserves on its housing related insured portfolio.

The market issues working group of the European Covered Bond Council met on Wednesday to hear proposals from six companies hoping to set up a new electronic trading platform to enhance liquidity and transparency in light of the problems in the inter-dealer market since last summer.

Dexia Kommunalbank breathed life into the long end of the covered bond market this week, pricing the first 10 year jumbo Pfandbrief in over a year, a Eu1.25bn public sector backed deal executed as some shorter dated transactions struggled (see separate stories).

The recent burst of Spanish issuance appeared to have reached its limits on Wednesday afternoon when Caixa Galicia was forced to limit the size of its two year cédulas hipotecarias issue — the fifth in three weeks — to its minimum Eu500m ambition.

Swedbank priced its debut Eu1bn three year covered bond yesterday (Thursday) afternoon at the wide end of guidance and after a slow bookbuilding period, as bankers away from the deal suggested it had been pitched too tightly relative to DnB Nor’s Eu2bn three year last week.