Stadshypotek and UniCredt Bank Austria encountered solid demand for new benchmarks this (Wednesday) morning, with the Swedish issuer generating strong Asian and central bank demand to increase its issue to Eu1.5bn and the Austrian borrower attracting demand for short dated paper.

UniCredit Bank Austria set final price guidance on a Eu1bn three year at 38bp over mid-swaps and attracted more than Eu2bn of orders to its deal. Leads Crédit Agricole, Commerzbank, Erste, ING and UniCredit had gone out with guidance of the 40bp area this morning after sounding a level in the low 40s beforehand.

“Bank Austria is nicely oversubscribed,” said a syndicate official away from the leads. “It’s clearly a good sign that the primary market is picking up well.

“Cash flew back to investors that needs to be reinvested and we think core euro regions will benefit,” he added.

A banker said that a lack of Austrian issuance had also helped, while another said that short maturities are well bid.

“Hardly any issuers want to print in that short maturity, which is creating a very good tightening,” he said. “The short end is having a natural bid due to all the investors coming to market.”

A syndicate official at one of the leads said that the UniCredit Bank Austria issue was going very well. He said an outstanding 2014 deal from the issuer had been at 38bp on the bid side, so the initial guidance was clearly fair.

“The issuer wanted to do a very good trade,” he added.

A banker away from the leads noted that the pricing at the tight end contrasted well with a 10 year deal UniCredit Bank Austria sold in mid-February that came at the wide end of 67bp-69bp guidance.

Stadshypotek is pricing a Eu1.5bn five year benchmark at 31bp over mid-swaps today (Wednesday), tightened from initial guidance of the 32bp area. The leads are Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, UBS and Handelsbanken.

A banker away from the leads said the pricing was “a good outcome”.

“It was fair for investors and very good for issuers,” he said. “It’s one of the top names from the Scandi region and clearly it had good demand.”

A syndicate official at one of the leads said that the order book was Eu1.8bn and included potentially the highest share of Asian distribution of any covered bond this year and also of central bank participation. Final distribution figures were not available by the time The Covered Bond Report went to press.

Crédit Agricole is tapping a 2025 issue today at 63bp over mid-swaps on the back of reverse enquiries and some shorts, according to syndicate official at the bank. The issuer set initial guidance of the 65bp area for a tap of up to Eu250m.