Norway’s Terra BoligKreditt announced the mandate for a 10 year euro benchmark as The Covered Bond Report was going to press.

The issuer has mandated BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Natixis and UniCredit for the transaction, which it said is expected to be launched in the near future, subject to market conditions.

Kristian Fiskerstrand, vice president, funding at Terra BoligKreditt, told The Covered Bond Report last week that the issuer has a funding need of roughly Eu2bn-Eu2.5bn this year.

Terra BoligKreditt’s last benchmark covered bond was its first ever jumbo, a Eu1bn five year launched on 30 October at 35bp over mid-swaps.

“With the size of the portfolio now it makes sense for us to have at least one jumbo a year and maybe two,” said Fiskerstrand. “That said, it is also possible that we do other benchmark transactions in between to make the ALM profile better.

“So I wouldn’t necessarily expect that all the future euro transactions will be jumbos, but we will be issuing at least one jumbo transaction a year. And then it depends on how the domestic market is developing, and how much we allocate for that versus euros.”

DNB Boligkreditt launched the last Norwegian 10 year benchmark, a Eu1bn issue at 33bp over mid-swaps on 14 November, and on 15 January sold the last Norwegian benchmark covered bond, a Eu1.5bn five year at 13bp over mid-swaps.