Deal of the Month: Banco Santander

A report on the €1.5 billion issue from Banco Santander which reopened the Spanish covered bond market.

Santander reopened the Spanish covered bond, or cedulas, market in May with the first such deal for almost a year. The previous new issue in the sector came in June 2008. The deal came days after the European Central Bank's announcement, on May 8, of a EUR60 billion purchase plan of covered bonds, but the leads insist that while this may have helped execution, the bond would have found an audience without it.

"Santander had been considering something for a while and although we don't know what