Korea Housing Finance Corporation is set to return to the dollar market with a five year covered bond benchmark after a roadshow. Ålandsbanken of Finland meanwhile sold a Eu250m seven year issue yesterday (Thursday).

KHFC mandated BNP Paribas, Citi, ING, Samsung Securities and Standard Chartered for a Reg S/144A dollar benchmark, expected to be a five year, to be launched after a roadshow. The state-owned issuer last issued a dollar benchmark in November 2015, selling a $500m five year.

Although South Korea has introduced dedicated covered bond legislation since KHFC began issuing covered bonds, it has stuck with its own structure, which utilises legislation specific to the institution. The most recent Korean benchmark was a $500m five year for Kookmin Bank in late January.

Finland’s Ålandsbanken sold a Eu250m no-grow seven year covered bond at mid-swaps plus 6bp yesterday (Thursday). Following a roadshow, leads Commerzbank and SEB had gone with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 8bp area yesterday morning – like National Bank of Canada, which sold a Eu750m seven year, taking advantage of a favourable post-FOMC market.

A syndicate banker at one of the leads said that the deal was not significantly oversubscribed, but that this was typical of a sub-benchmark transaction.

“It was a very solid book for a Eu250m deal,” he said. “With these transactions you get a number of investors who are keen to buy, and those you don’t get, you don’t get at any price as they are simply not interested in sub-benchmarks.

“So we had just exactly the number and size that we needed.”

The Nordics were allocated 76%, Germany 20%, and Austria 4%. Central banks and agencies took 65%, asset managers 12%, insurance companies and pension funds 12%, and banks 11%.

The deal was backed by a cover pool of Finnish residential mortgages, while Ålandsbanken also has a Swedish cover pool it issues off. Its last public euro issue was a Eu250m five year in May 2015.