Norway’s Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt was in the market yesterday (Wednesday) with a Eu500m five year deal that is its first euro benchmark covered bond since January 2012, a lengthy absence that prompted the issuer to go on an extensive roadshow in preparation of its return to the market.

Leads Danske, HSBC, LBBW and Natixis gathered Eu1.4bn of orders from 89 investors for the Eu500m no-grow issue, and priced it at 12bp over, the tight end of guidance of the 13bp over area. The deal was first marketed at the 15bp over area.

Egil Mokleiv, managing director, Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt, said that the issuer is very happy with the transaction.

“It went very smoothly and very swiftly,” he said. “On the back of quite good sentiment yesterday morning we decided to go for intra-day execution and the traction when we opened at the 15bp area was very good.”

Indications of interest reached around Eu1bn on the basis of the 15bp over area, according to Mokleiv, who said that interest remained strong when the guidance was set at the 13bp over area.

“We decided we would land at 12bp, and the deal is trading 1bp-2bp inside re-offer today, which I think is a good performance,” he said, adding that the transaction bodes well for the increased euro activity the issuer foresees given its first sizeable refinancing requirements next year.

“The new issue premium was next to nothing, but the performance so far shows that it was not priced too tightly,” said Mokleiv.

Germany and Austria took 39%, the Nordics 28%, the UK and Ireland 12%, Benelux 7%, France 5%, central and eastern Europe 4%, Asia 3%, and others 2%.

Banks were allocated 40%, funds 27%, central banks and agencies 23%, savings banks 7%, and pension funds and insurance companies 3%.