UBI Banca sold its first new benchmark covered bond of the year today (Monday), attracting over Eu1.4bn of orders to a Eu1bn 10 year deal whose execution was compared favourably to a recent UniCredit issue, being priced 1bp inside the national champion’s slightly longer dated CPT.

UniCredit reopened the covered bond market for Italian and peripheral issuers on 24 August with a Eu1bn October 2026 obbligazioni bancarie garantite (OBG), which attracted some Eu2bn of demand and was the first benchmark from the periphery since 2 June.

UBI leads Barclays, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, LBBW, Société Générale and UBS launched the September 2026 soft bullet deal with guidance of the 23bp over mid-swaps area this morning. Guidance was then revised to the 20bp area, on the back of books in excess of Eu1.25bn, before the spread was set at 19bp and the size at Eu1bn. The book closed at over Eu1.4bn.

“It went well,” said a syndicate banker at one of the leads. “The focus was on the UniCredit deal, and how this compared.

“Obviously UniCredit is a national champion, but their deal was slightly longer dated and a conditional pass-through (CPT) – which some investors still aren’t keen on, although I don’t think that has much of an impact on pricing any more. Overall, I think 19bp is a good price versus UniCredit and in line with our expectations.”

UniCredit’s October 2026s were seen at 19bp, mid, pre-announcement, having been priced at 20bp last month. Bankers said the deal offered a new issue premium of around 8bp, also citing UBI February 2025s – the issuer’s longest dated outstanding OBG – at 7bp, mid, and February 2024s at 2bp.

“We were mainly pricing off the UniCredit,” added the lead syndicate banker. “It is the most relevant comparable out there.”

UniCredit’s OBGs are rated AA+ by Fitch, while UBI Banca’s OBGs are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA (low) and DBRS.

Bankers away from the deal agreed that it had gone well.

“There was some weakness in the UniCredit on the secondary market, so I think UBI Banca priced this very well and did not try to push things too far,” said a syndicate official.

Syndicate officials said the deal came 65bp-70bp inside BTPs.

The new issue is UBI’s first benchmark covered bond of the year, although the Italian issuer on 9 June tapped a Eu750m January 2023 issue by Eu250m.