A €1bn five year green Pfandbrief from DZ Hyp successfully rounded off a compact week of euro benchmark issuance yesterday (Wednesday), with the ECB meeting today and industry events in Seville next week seen supressing supply before a potential rebound the following week.

The German issuer hit the market after Helaba and Nationwide Building Society had on Tuesday sold €1bn and €1.5bn deals, respectively, following a €500m no-grow seven year for Achmea Bank on Monday. No new euro benchmark covered bonds were launched or announced today (Thursday), with only a €300m sub-benchmark for the Mortgage Society of Finland yesterday supplementing the €3.5bn of benchmarks.

After the pause around the latest European Central Bank rate decision today – which was nonetheless described by syndicate bankers as a non-event – issuers are generally expected to give a wide berth to industry events in Seville next week, including the latest European Covered Bond Council Plenary on Wednesday and FT Live conference on Thursday.

Although one issuer was said to be considering hitting the market early in the week, several bankers cautioned against this. However, one noted how receptive the primary market has been across asset classes in the face of potentially disruptive influences recently.

DZ Hyp was the latest issuer to take advantage of such benign conditions, attracting almost €2bn of orders to its €1bn August 2030 green Pfandbrief, which was teed up on Tuesday after the market held up in the wake of the French no confidence vote on Monday.

Leads DekaBank, DZ, ING, Helaba, Nordea and UniCredit tightened pricing from guidance of the mid-swaps plus 30bp area to 25bp, which a lead banker said equated to a new issue premium of 2bp.

“There was also the opportunity to price it at 24bp,” he added, “but this would have come at the cost of significant drops in the order book, and the issuer was wise to say, OK, let’s be investor-friendly and do 25bp.”

Germany, Austria and Switzerland took 58%, the Nordics 21%, the Benelux and France 12%, and others 9%. Banks were allocated 47%, asset managers and funds 26%, central banks and official institutions 18%, and insurance companies and pension funds 9%. Some 105 accounts participated.

“More than 100 accounts is always outstanding granularity for a Pfandbrief transaction,” said the lead banker.

The euro benchmark is DZ Hyp’s fourth €1bn transaction of the year, of which an April trade was split into two €500m tranches. One of those was green, but yesterday’s issue is the German bank’s first €1bn green Mortgage Pfandbrief since its green bond framework was updated in 2024, noted Sabine Barthauer, DZ Hyp CEO.

“This outstanding result, with the issue twice oversubscribed, reflects the continuing interest in sustainable investments among European investors,” she said. “We would like to thank all investors for their trust and support as we work towards our green transformation goals.”

Compatriot Helaba had entered the market on Tuesday morning, immediately after the expected French news, with a lead banker describing the tone as constructive. Leads Commerzbank, Erste, Helaba, Natixis, Scotiabank and UniCredit built a peak book of more than €1.6bn on the back of guidance of the mid-swaps plus 21bp area for the three year public sector Pfandbrief, before pricing the issue at 16bp, and 1bp of new issue premium, with a final order book of above €1.35bn.

Nationwide also hit euros on Tuesday, selling €1bn long three year and €500m seven year tranches via ABN Amro, BBVA, BNP Paribas, NatWest and NordLB. Peak order books of above €3.1bn and €1.65bn (excluding joint lead manager interest), respectively, allowed for tightening from 32bp and 51bp, to 25bp and 45bp and the respective sizes, with the final order books above €2.6bn and €1.25bn.