A Eu1bn five year UBS covered bond at 30bp over mid-swaps and a Eu2bn three year Nordea Bank Finland issue at 19bp over mid-swaps were in high demand yesterday (Thursday), as strong order books demonstrated.

“I think the volume of issuance this week came because we all had the feeling that there was an appetite for high quality issuance, and once there’s a window, you cannot afford not to take it,” said a syndicate official at UBS’s leads.

Joint bookrunners Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Natixis, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and UniCredit took Eu2bn in indications of interest and over 150 different investors put Eu3.2bn of orders into the book.

“So it was very encouraging,” said a banker at one of the leads. “But we knew right from the beginning that the issuer could only print Eu1bn so we put it as a no-grow.”

This trade was the issuer’s first since April 2010.

“The market is very bullish for core countries,” said the banker. “Countries like Sweden, Germany, France, they are at an advantage right now.

“And this trade was the right name, the right country and the right maturity.”

Initial pricing was arrived at using a 2014 UBS deal at 23bp bid and a 2019 at 44bp bid.

“The price at 30, I think, is the tightest pricing on a three year that we’ve seen in a long time – definitely this year,” said a banker at another of the leads.

“It was the kind of flyer you love to have,” he added.

Managed funds took 39%, banks 36%, central banks 8%, insurance companies 6%, SSAs 4%, private banks 4%, and other 3%. Germany and Austria took 50%, France 12%, Switzerland 8%, the Benelux 8%, the UK and Ireland 6%, Scandinavia 5%, eastern Europe 5%, southern Europe 2%, and other 4%.

Nordea Bank Finland, with leads Goldman Sachs, Nordea, Société Générale and UniCredit, built strong books steadily, with orders in excess of Eu3bn at their close, exceeding the issuer’s expectations, according to a syndicate official at one of the leads.

“It went very well, with a heavily oversubscribed book,” he said, adding that there was very little spread sensitivity.

Pricing comparables, he said, included a February 2014 trading at 14bp-15bp over and a November 2015 trading at 30bp over.

“At the short end of the curve there is a lot of cash to be put to work,” said a syndicate official away from the leads. “It was a no-brainer.”