SpareBank 1 and OP Mortgage Bank successfully sold Eu1bn seven year deals today (Friday), although bankers cited books more modest than for a Crédit Agricole reopener yesterday as suggesting investors are being selective ahead of an anticipated wave of issuance next week.

The new issues follow the reopening of the market by Crédit Agricole Home Loan SFH yesterday (Thursday). The French issuer printed the first euro benchmark covered bond since 29 July, attracting Eu2.5bn of orders for a Eu1.25bn long six year and ending a four week wait for supply caused by the summer holiday period and extended by market volatility this week.

OP Mortgage Bank leads Credit Suisse, Pohjola, UBS and UniCredit priced the Finnish issuer’s Eu1bn seven year deal at 1bp through mid-swaps. The deal was launched with initial price thoughts of the 3bp area, before guidance was set at 1bp on the back of Eu1.4bn of orders.

The new issue is OP’s first euro benchmark covered bond of the year. The issuer sold three in 2014, each Eu1bn issues, with the most recent a 10 year printed in November.

A syndicate official away from the deal said it had gone well, noting that the leads had gathered Eu1bn of orders within 45 minutes.

“They got off to a very good start and got good traction,” he said.

Meanwhile, SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt leads BNP Paribas, Deutsche, Natixis and Swedbank launched the Norwegian issuer’s Eu1bn seven year deal with initial price thoughts of 10bp-12bp over mid-swaps. They moved to guidance of the 9bp area on the back of Eu1.5bn of orders, before the re-offer was set at 8bp.

“To get at least Eu1.5bn of orders is a good result,” said a syndicate official away from the leads.

The new issue is SpareBank 1’s first euro benchmark since November 2013, when it printed a Eu1bn seven year.

Syndicate officials away from the leads said the pricing of both deals appeared to be generous at the IPTs stage, SpareBank 1 in particular. They estimated that SpareBank 1 offered a final new issue premium of around 5bp-7bp and OP of around 3bp-4bp, based on the issuer’s secondary curves.

“They both decided to play it safe and offer a decent pick-up at the start, which was sensible,” said one.

Noting that OP’s outstandings trade around 4bp tighter than SpareBank 1’s, syndicate officials added that the difference in pricing was largely down to the Finnish issue being CBPP3-eligible, while the Norwegian paper is not.

One syndicate official added that he does not believe that premiums on this week’s issues have been affected by the week’s wider market volatility, suggesting starting premiums would already have been slightly elevated at the end of the holiday period.

“I think the one thing the volatility affected was the timing,” he said, noting that a 10 year deal from Finland in the SSA space had been seen as underperforming earlier in the week. “Seeing that outcome amid the volatility did keep people out of the market until later in the week.”

Both issuers had announced their mandates yesterday afternoon, with SpareBank 1 first by around one hour. Syndicate official disagreed on whether the outcomes of the deals were affected by being in competition.

“There was a risk that the two would be competing, but that doesn’t seem to have affected how the deals have gone too much,” said one. “These are still solid results.”

However, another syndicate official said the book sizes of the two deals were underwhelming, citing OP Mortgage Bank in particular

“For a fine name like OP, this is a good trade but that book size is not a blow-out like we saw with Crédit Agricole’s deal yesterday, which had a very comparable tenor,” he said. “Here you have two Scandinavian deals in the same tenor on the same day, both seeing as a result that they are not getting the demand they would if they had an open stage.”

However, he said the issuers may well have made the right choice to move on Friday ahead of anticipated further supply when the UK returns from a bank holiday on Tuesday next week.

“As long as markets hold – and you never know what will happen at the weekend – you would expect a crowded week next week,” he said. “In particular you would expect more from the Nordics, and many of the big Scandinavian names are still to come.”

Another syndicate official agreed, saying that the deals paved the way for further supply.

“These issues show that supply will be well received next week,” he said, “but they also show that investors expect premiums. The books are not as big as yesterday’s, and investors will be selective next week if supply keeps coming at the levels that are expected.”