Best European issuer of Mortgage Covered Bonds
HVB (UniCredit Group)

UniCredit Group as “The First Truly European Bank” is in a leading position in its European core markets in terms of market capitalisation: #1 in Austria, #1 in Emerging Europe, #2 in Italy and #3 in Germany.

We service more than 40 mn customers in 23 European of 50 countries worldwide. UniCredit is one of the top international covered bond houses and has been voted No. 1 in both Covered Bonds Research and Sub-Sovereigns and Agencies by Investors in a Euromoney poll in 2007. Next to having lead a large amount of inaugural transactions in several covered bond jurisdictions, UniCredit has been one of the first and most committed lead managers in the Spanish Jumbo Covered Bond Market. UniCredit has also been instrumental in firmly establishing the Nordic region as a covered bond market in its own right. In Germany, home to the biggest EUR covered bond market and the role model for most newly established covered bond markets with specific legal frameworks, UniCredit and its predecessor HVB have been the No. 1 book runner for Jumbo covered bonds for the last 3 years running.

Next to covered bonds, UniCredit is also a specialist in structured capital-market oriented financing and risk management solutions across all asset classes, and a leading provider in Leveraged and Project Finance, where the innovative bond issues for the wind park industry have been a groundbreaking development in the shape of the “Breeze” – transactions. UniCredit services large multinational firms as well as domestic SME companies, financial institutions and the public sector in the Euromarkets via connecting the value chain between issuers, capital markets and investors. Outside the market for liquid benchmark issues, the bank has also become one of the most prominent providers of EUR – denominated private placements for European financial institutions, mostly in the form of structured Medium Term Notes and Schuldscheindarlehen.

While UniCredit is first and foremost a EURO – house, the bank also has substantial capabilities in other currencies, where the Swiss Franc is most dominant. With a steadily growing market share in this important niche market, UniCredit has seen a number of important milestones over the last months, culminating in the largest ever initial volume for the Republic of Poland (CHF 1.5 BN, dual tranche) in which the bank acted as joint book runner.

As UniCredit, we are building on the firm foundations of our unique heritage in Pfandbriefe as HVB. We are delighted to be voted the best European Issuer of Mortgage Covered Bonds in the recent Financial Bridges Poll, which further establishes us on the global market as a main brand name and financial services provider.