Pricing for a Eu1bn no-grow five year Sampo Housing Loan Bank deal took into account investors’ differing views on the covered bond, with some viewing it as a pure Finnish offering and others more focussed on the issuer’s links to the Danske group, according to a syndicate official at one of the leads.

Leads BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and UniCredit re-offered the benchmark at 66bp over mid-swaps, following guidance of the 67bp over area and initial price thoughts of the high 60s. Orders totalling Eu1.3bn were gathered.

The Eu1bn transaction refinances a maturing bond, according to a syndicate official at one of the leads.

He said that initial price thoughts were set at the high 60s over to reflect investors’ preferences, with there having been “ample communication with investors for some time” following a roadshow in late September.

Some syndicate bankers away from the leads had suggested Sampo’s deal had been priced somewhat cheaply, with one saying he was surprised by the pick-up over a re-offer spread of 58bp over for a DnB Nor Boligkreditt Eu2bn five year on Tuesday.

The syndicate official on the Sampo deal said that there are different opinions among the buy-side on how a Sampo Housing Loan Bank covered bond should be positioned, with some looking at it as purely Finnish and others putting more weight on Sampo being an issuer from the Danske group.

“The strategy was to take cues from the market,” he said.

A syndicate official away from the leads had suggested that difficulties in the Danish banking system could have played a role in influencing pricing, and the syndicate banker on the deal said that while this was “remote”, it could not be ruled out that Sampo’s links to Danske and therefore the Danish banking system were an influence.

He identified as noteworthy, unusual and outstanding the participation from Nordic investors, who bought more than half of the bonds, including some sizeable orders but also high granularity. Seventy-five accounts participated.

Nordic investors bought 56%, Germany and Austria 26%, the Benelux 4%, France 5%, Switzerland 3%, the UK 1%, Iberia 1%, and others 4%.

Banks took 45%, fund managers 34%, agencies 7%, insurance companies 7%, central banks 4%, and others 2%.