NIBC and Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall were unable to tighten pricing on seven and long nine year benchmarks, respectively, today (Tuesday), with demand proving more elusive further out on the curve, while latest Austrian RLB Tirol ended up with a similarly substantial NIP on fives after starting wider.

After a mandate announcement yesterday, Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall (BSH) leads DekaBank, Deutsche, DZ, Natixis and Swedbank opened books this morning with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 17bp area for the €500m no-grow June 2032 mortgage Pfandbrief, expected rating Aaa. After around two hours and 10 minutes, they reported books above €500m, including €45m of joint lead manager interest, and set the spread at 17bp. The final book was €580m, including €60m of JLM interest.

A syndicate banker said the outcome, although solid, failed to deliver any pricing dynamics, and hence fell short of what had been hoped for.

“The most burdensome factor was the maturity, long nine years,” he said. “It’s one of those in-between maturities, even in easier times, and with yields where they are, it’s probably not everyone’s darling. On top of that, maybe people felt that the initial concession of 8bp was a bit on the slim side.

“To get something going successfully at the moment, everything part needs to come together perfectly, and that wasn’t the case today,” he added. “Ultimately, the question is how you react to this, whether you are prudent or make a huge fuss about it – fortunately, the issuer opted for the former.”

While offering a new issue premium of around 8bp, today’s transaction was priced 4bp wider than a €500m short 10 year green mortgage Pfandbrief issued by fellow group member DZ Hyp on Monday of last week (19 January), which attracted over €1.3bn of demand.

Leads Commerzbank, DZ, ING, LBBW and NatWest followed up on a mandate announcement yesterday by opening books for NIBC this morning at guidance of the mid-swaps plus 28bp area for the €500m no-grow January 2030 soft bullet Dutch covered bond, expected rating AAA (S&P). After around two hours and five minutes, they reported books above €500m, excluding JLM interest, and after around two hours and 35 minutes, they set the spread at 28bp on the back of books above €625m, including €50m of JLM interest. The final book reached more than €765m.

A lead banker said the result was in line with current outcomes, and noted that the oversubscription level compared favourably with some recent transactions.

“It’s not a name that can be bought by everyone,” he said, “but we were confident that seven years was doable.”

He said that working out fair value was not straightforward, partly because the deal is only NIBC’s second soft bullet covered bond following its switch from conditional pass-throughs, but put it at around 18bp, implying a new issue premium of around 10bp.

Raiffeisen-Landesbank Tirol sold the sixth euro benchmark covered bond from Austria this year today, following a mandate announcement yesterday, a €500m no-grow five year. Leads Commerzbank, Erste, Helaba, RBI and UniCredit priced the new issue at mid-swaps plus 29bp on the back of books above €750m, following initial guidance of the 32bp area.

A banker away from the leads said that while, unlike BSH and NIBC, RLB Tirol had been able to tighten its spread, this was partly thanks to a more generous starting concession, with the ultimate new issue premium being close to 10bp.

Oberösterreichische Landesbank AG (Hypo Oberösterreich) is the next Austrian in the pipeline, having mandated DekaBank, DZ Bank, Erste and Helaba for a long four year (August 2027) €250m mortgage Pfandbrief, with an expected rating of AA+ from S&P, according to a mandate announcement today.

DekaBank issued a public sector Pfandbrief sub-benchmark today, a €250m two year deal at mid-swaps minus 11bp, via Commerzbank, DekaBank and Natixis.

Caja Rural de Navarra is planning to issue the third cédulas hipotecarias benchmark of the year, a €500m no-grow long four year green issue. The Spaniard last sold a euro benchmark covered bond in February 2022, a €500m no-grow seven year that was the first green cédulas. Banco Cooperativo Español, ING, LBBW, NordLB and Santander have the mandate for the April 2027 transaction, expected rating Aa1.