Intesa Sanpaolo placed a three times oversubscribed Eu1bn no-grow 12 year OBG today (Wednesday) despite softer market conditions, and a banker said that the deal – the Italian issuer’s third long dated issue since September – showed Intesa standing out from the peripheral crowd.

Leads Banca IMI, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, RBS and UniCredit collected Eu3bn of orders in less than one hour.

“It was a very quick turnaround,” said a syndicate banker at one of the leads, “definitely a blow-out.”

Initial price thoughts were set at the 160bp over mid-swaps area, guidance at 155bp over, and the re-offer spread at 150bp. The lead syndicate banker said that at 150bp the new issue premium was “quasi-non-existent”.

A syndicate banker away from the leads said that the pricing was “spot-on” and in line with expectations for a long dated trade. He added that at 150bp the deal was pricing some 100bp inside the Italian government bond curve when taking into account a March 2026 BTP trading at 250bp-260bp over mid-swaps.

The 12 year maturity was also said to be appropriate, with another syndicate banker away from the leads saying that it made the deal look attractive for insurance companies keen to invest at the beginning of the year.

The lead syndicate banker said targeting the 12 year tenor was a “wise choice” and followed the positive outcome of other recent 12 year supply, such as a CRH Eu1bn deal issued on 4 January.

“We knew that there is a lot of cash in the market and a lot of demand in the longer part of the curve,” said the lead syndicate banker.

He added that the deal went well despite the market showing “a bit of fatigue” and investors becoming “a bit more selective”.

“Insurance companies are out looking for good assets,” he said.

“When you pay a bit you can get this type of result,” he added.

This is the third time in six months that Intesa has tapped the covered bond market with well received transactions beyond five years. The Italian issuer placed a Eu1.25bn 10 year covered bond issue that attracted over Eu5bn of orders on 22 November, and a three times oversubscribed Eu1bn seven year deal on 25 September.

A syndicate banker away from the leads said he was surprised to see a long dated transaction from a peripheral coming today as the market was “a touch weaker” this week, but that the positive outcome of the deal showed that the “music is still playing” for peripheral names offering a decent pick-ups in terms of yields.

The lead syndicate banker said that today’s deal shows that Intesa should progressively be regarded as a core issuer rather than as a peripheral one, because its performance “is no longer comparable to others weak peripheral names,” he said.