(Telestock) – BPER Bank successfully completed the placement of a new Covered Bond issue for an amount of 500 million euros with a 5-year maturity (July 2029), which reopened the Italian banking bond market after the summer break.
This is the second issue of European Covered Bond (Premium), aimed at institutional investors, carried out by the Bank during 2024.
The issue has collected orders exceeding Euro 1.9 billion by 68 investors. The solid and well-diversified demand – largely from international real money investors – allowed the initial spread level to be reduced from 56bps above the 5-year mid-swap to 50bps. The annual coupon was set at 2.875%, with an issue/re-offer price of 99.458%, equivalent to a yield to maturity of 2.997%.
The geographical distribution saw the presence of foreign investors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland (15% overall), Denmark (15%), Benelux (13%), United Kingdom (12%), Spain (5%), France (4%) and Italian investors (31%). The final allocation was mainly destined to investment funds (43%), banks (42%), institutions (8%) and insurance companies (5%).
The bonds are backed by a 100% residential mortgage portfolio, confirming BPER Banca’s ability to support the residential mortgage market for retail customers.
IMI–Intesa Sanpaolo, Mediobanca, NORD/LB, Santander, Societe Generale and UBS Investment Bank acted as Joint Bookrunners for the placement.
The issue, under the BPER Banca Covered Bond Programme (Estense Covered Bond) of 7 billion Euro, is under the
centralized dematerialization at Euronext Securities Milan and will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.