Berlin Hyp is on track to issue a longer-dated bond, after having bought back some €303m of short-dated Pfandbriefe in a tender, while Deutsche Pfandbriefbank also announced results of a buyback today (Thursday) and Hamburg Commercial Bank launched a tender for two issues yesterday.

Berlin Hyp bought back €303.242m of a maximum €1.25bn of three issues totalling €3.25bn, it announced yesterday, after having launched its tender on 5 June.

“It was an OK result,” Bodo Winker, head of funding and investor relations at Berlin Hyp, told The CBR. “I would have hoped for a little more, but it’s very hard to predict how much you will get in these exercises.”

Berlin Hyp is replacing the covered bond funding with funding from TLTRO III, meaning the outcome of the tender will not affect its plan to issue a long dated benchmark, which it announced at the same time as the tender.

Investors tendering bonds could nevertheless request priority allocation codes for the new issue and more than half did so, according to Winkler.

“If markets are OK, there is something to come from Berlin Hyp in the near future,” he added.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) is understood to have bought back some €61m of its €750m 1.875% January 2022 mortgage Pfandbrief in its offer, which concluded yesterday (Wednesday). The issuer had tendered for up to €250m of the bond.

“Berlin Hyp managed to buy back 9% of the overall notional while pbb managed only around 8% despite paying a more aggressive spread than Berlin Hyp,” said Florian Eichert, head of covered bond and SSA research at Crédit Agricole. “These low percentages will most likely not motivate others to follow.

“While it does still make a lot of sense for banks to buy back bonds, investors simply have not been there to play ball.”

Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB, formerly HSH Nordbank) is tendering for two bonds, any and all of a €500m 0.25% November 2020 (DE000HSH5W21) issued in November 2015, and up to €350m of a €850m 0.375% April 2023 (DE000HSH5Y29) initially launched as a €500m trade in April 2016 and tapped for €350m in July 2016.

The maximum purchase amount of €350m for the April 2023 will leave at least €500m outstanding, with the issuer – like its compatriots – ensuring unchanged LCR and index eligibility after the tender. The repurchase spread for the longer dated bond is 1bp over mid-swaps, while the shorter dated bond is being tendered for at a price of €1,003 per €1,000 of nominal.

The tender is scheduled to end next Wednesday (24 June), with indicative results announced the next day. BNP Paribas and Commerzbank are dealer managers, and Lucid Issuer Services the tender agent.