Ten year issues continued to dominate the week, with SEB and Eurohypo selling 10 year trades today (Thursday), following 10 year issues from Crédit Mutuel Arkéa yesterday and ABN Amro on Tuesday.

“The overall yield environment is clearly better and we’re seeing good demand for longer term issues,” said a syndicate official from one of Eurohypo’s leads.

Eurohypo launched its 10 year Eu500m trade today, settling on a final spread of 57bp over mid-swaps after tightening from an initial area of 57bp-60bp over.

Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and LBBW were mandated on the transaction, which closed at 1200CET with an order book of Eu750m.

“It was very good for a deal only ever intended to be Eu500m from the beginning,” said a banker at one of the leads. “We also managed to price it at the tighter end of guidance, which is very good.”

The banker said there was some difficulty with SEB being in the market at the same time.

“Some of the attention was taken away with two such similar transactions on the market,” he said.

Final pricing is to be determined later today.

At 1200CET SEB had books approaching Eu1.5bn for its 10 year benchmark, with guidance of 58bp-60bp above mid-swaps that had been refined from an area of 60bp.

A banker at one of the leads, which included Crédit Agricole, SEB, UBS, UniCredit and Société Générale, said the order book was developing very well.

“It should most likely be priced at the tighter end of guidance,” said the banker.

UniCredit also entered the market today with a Eu500m tap of a six year Hypothekenpfandbrief at 17bp over mid-swaps.

BayernLB, HSH Nordbank, NordLB, UniCredit and WestLB are joint lead managers.

Lloyds TSB had an order book of more than Eu2.5bn when it closed books on a Eu1.75bn five year covered bond yesterday. The final spread of 110bp over mid-swaps was confirmed by 1230CET after Lloyds initially went out with a whisper of the 115bp area and guidance of 110bp-115bp.

BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche and Lloyds TSB were lead managers.

A banker at one of the leads was pleased that the deal had been “very successful and it came at a good level”.

Germany took 21.2%, the UK 16.9%, Italy 13%, Denmark 7.4%, Norway 6.6%, Asia 5.7%, Switzerland 5.2%, Netherlands 5.2%, France 3.8% and Spain 2.7%.  Banks took 45.5%, fund managers 38%, supranationals 6.9%, insurance 2.9%, central banks 2.3%, pension funds 2.2% and other 2.2%.

A Deutsche Bank Eu1bn seven year trade at 13bp over mid-swaps had very strong momentum, according to a banker from one of the leads. Lead managers included Crédit Agricole, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, ING and UniCredit.

“This transaction was very well awaited,” said the banker. It was only the second covered bond to be issued by Deutsche Bank.

“It was a very quick process,” he said. “We went out at 0845 CET and closed at 1020 CET with more than Eu2.5bn in orders.

“It had a very diversified order book; Germany only took 51%, the UK with 19% and the rest was well spread across Europe.”

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa did not see the same momentum as Deutsche Bank but that was to be expected, said a syndicate official at one of the leads.

The issuer and leads Crédit Agricole, DZ Bank, JP Morgan and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa finalised pricing yesterday at 87bp over mid-swaps on the Eu1bn 10 year transaction.

“The bonds people bought yesterday will be transformed into obligations à l’habitat in a matter of weeks,” said the syndicate official. “That message was clearly communicated to investors.

“It was a very smooth process,” he added.

France took 37.8%, Germany and Austria 38.9%, Benelux 4.7%, Scandanavia 0.5%, Italy 1.4%, UK and Ireland 4.9%, Spain 0.2% and other 11.3%. Fund managers took the largest share, with 45.4%, followed by banks 26.2%, central banks and agencies 13.3%, insurance and pension funds 13.3% and others 1.3%.