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Nobody issues more Pfandbriefe than Eurohypo. With about €68 billion of jumbo Pfandbriefe outstanding, it has the biggest share of the highly liquid, euro-denominated market of deals worth more than €500 million.
"We have about a 12% share of the euro covered bond market as a benchmark issuer," says Franz-Josef Kaufmann, Eurohypo's head of capital markets. "We are a benchmark issuer with a clear strategy of doing one or two deals a year of a minimum size of €2 billion but not more than €3 billion, even after increases. We use the pot system and have market-making commitments from our lead managers. Furthermore, we use market opportunities to optimize our overall funding costs."
Changing strategy
Eurohypo funds out of Germany and through its Luxembourg subsidiary, Europäische Hypothekenbank. It has three cover pools, two in Germany and one in Luxembourg. Europäische Hypothekenbank issues lettres de gage in non-euro currencies, mostly Swiss francs, dollars, and sterling.
Owned by Deutsche Bank Group, Commerzbank Group, and Allianz Group, Eurohypo is planning a secondary public offering to increase its free float from just under 2%.