Hamburg Commercial Bank (HCOB) has added €500m ($528m) to its coffers with a new bond series backed by vessel mortgages.
The major shipping lender said the so-called Pfandbrief placement is a continuation of its regular issuance activities.
But this was the first shipping issue since the former state-controlled HSH Nordbank was bought in November 2018 for $1.2bn by a consortium led by Cerberus Capital Management and JC Flowers.
The bond has a maturity of three years and a coupon of 1.375%.
The issue was placed mainly in Germany, with 71% of the total, as well as Scandinavia (18%) and the UK (7%).
Barclays, Commerzbank, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan closed the well-oversubscribed order book at noon on Wednesday.
The shipping Pfandbrief is rated “A2” by ratings agency Moody’s.
“Hamburg Commercial Bank regularly enters the capital markets with covered and uncovered benchmark issues and has continuously improved its funding costs as part of its successful and now completed transformation,” said chief financial officer Ian Banwell.
“We are pleased that this first ship Pfandbrief of HCOB after its privatisation has been so well received by the capital market.”
The group intends to continue issuing ship-backed Pfandbriefe on a regular basis in the future to refinance international shipping activities, one of its core business areas, in a cost-efficient manner, added Ralf Lowe, head of treasury at HCOB.
Pfandbriefe have become the blueprint for many covered bond models in Europe and beyond.
They are collateralised by long-term assets.
