Barclays Bank came to market today (Wednesday) with a Eu1.5bn five year issue priced at 58bp over mid-swaps, while Compagnie de Financement Foncier sold a Eu1bn 10 year deal at 78bp over.

Leads Barclays, Citi, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, ING and Société Générale built a book of over Eu3.5bn for the UK deal in the hour and a half that books were open. Initial guidance was 60bp over mid-swaps.

“The pricing is spot on compared to the secondary market,” said a syndicate official at one of the leads.

Outstanding Barclays issues include a January 2015 trading at 47bp on the bid side and a January 2021 trading at 77bp.

“Barclays is clearly a very good deal,” said a banker away from the leads. “It’s not cheap, but a very strong name and one you look out for as an investor.

“It’s a good sign that a UK national champion, like Barclays, is coming to market now.”

Compagnie de Financement Foncier originally went to market with guidance of the high 70s over mid-swaps for its 10 year deal and settled on final pricing of 78bp over mid-swaps.

The last comparable new issue was a Crédit Mutuel Arkéa 10 year last week, which came at 87bp over mid-swaps.

Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, Morgan Stanley and Natixis were joint bookrunners on CFF’s new issue and a banker at one of the leads said that bookbuilding went “steadily”. By 0930 CET the books were above Eu700m and they had reached Eu1bn when the books were closed at 1330 CET.

A banker away from the leads said bookbuilding was a bit disappointing and that pricing could have been more generous. The leads began taking indications of interest yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.

“When you take a look at whisper of the high 70s, that’s probably not enough to include a new issue premium,” he said.