Crédit Agricole Home Loan SFH attracted some Eu2.3bn of demand today (Wednesday) with a seven year benchmark as core supply continued to go smoothly in the short week after the smooth execution of benchmarks for BNP Paribas Public Sector SCF and a UniCredit Pfandbrief yesterday.

Leads BBVA, Crédit Agricole, RBS, Société Générale and UniCredit tightened pricing to 53bp over mid-swaps after going out with guidance of the 55bp over mid-swaps area this morning, and whispering at the mid to high 50s yesterday (Tuesday).

“I think the pricing shows we took the right steps here,” said a syndicate official from one of the leads.

The deal will be sized at Eu1.5bn and priced this afternoon.

“It looks like a smooth transaction,” said a banker away from the leads. “Seven years is always a bit tricky, as it falls between those that naturally buy up to five years and those that buy 10 years, but this seems really good.

“The new issue premium, at the 53bp re-offer, looks like 5bp-6bp, which is in line with what we saw on the BNP Paribas deal yesterday.”

Another banker away from the leads said that a seven year made sense after a couple of 10 year French deals and given the recent moves in yields.

Crédit Agricole’s deal came after a burst of activity yesterday when BNP Paribas Public Sector SCF and UniCredit Bank AG hit the market after a Deutsche Kreditbank benchmark on Monday. Santander also issued (see separate story), although its launch was said to have been more difficult than yesterday’s French and German issues.

A syndicate official away from those two deals said that he was not surprised to see them go easily.

“They can prepare them on Monday when their key investor bases of France and Germany are in,” he said, “and then you know exactly what you’re doing on Tuesday.”

BNP Paribas Public Sector SCF built books with a high level of Asian participation for its Eu1bn five year obligations fonciéres benchmark at 33bp over mid-swaps. Leads BBVA, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and NordLB built a book of more than Eu2.2bn, with 90 accounts.

“It was very easy to launch Eu1bn with this high quality book,” said Derry Hubbard, head of FIG syndicate at BNP Paribas. “We did have a constraint to the Eu1bn size. We were limited from a collateral standpoint in terms of printing more.”

Asia took 26%, France 18%, the Benelux 9%, Nordics 5%, Italy 3%, the UK and Ireland 3%, and eastern Europe 2%. Banks and financial institutions took 42%, central banks and official institutions 32%, investment managers 21%, corporations 5%, and insurance companies 1%.

“It’s the first time I can remember Asian participation being higher than French participation on a French covered bond,” said Hubbard. “We put the trade on the screens Monday because we wanted to have conversations with investors in Europe and the Far East.”

He said that pricing was based off the issuer’s curve, with a 2014 at 20bp over mid-swaps and a 2015 at 26bp over.

UniCredit priced its Eu1bn five year public sector Pfandbrief at 19bp over mid-swaps. Joint leads Crédit Agricole, BayernLB, ING, NordLB and UniCredit built a book of Eu1.75bn, comprising almost 100 accounts, between 0900 CET and 1040 CET.

“It was quite a fast process,” said a syndicate official from one of the leads.

Germany took 75%, Asia 10%, Austria and Switzerland 6%, central and eastern Europe 4%, the Benelux 3%, and Italy 2%. Banks took 50%, central banks 26%, funds 21%, corporations 2%, and insurance companies 1%.

Clydesdale Bank has mandated Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, National Australia Bank, Natixis and UniCredit for its debut euro benchmark covered bond. The deal, for the subsidiary of NAB, is due to be launched after a roadshow starting next week.