A £500m five year FRN for Santander UK impressed today (Thursday), attracting over £1.3bn of orders and being priced 4bp inside a deal of the same size and tenor for SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt on Monday.

Leads NatWest Markets, RBC and Santander launched the deal with initial price thoughts of the 27bp over three month Libor area, before revising guidance to the 23bp-25bp area. The spread was later fixed at 23bp, with the book closing in excess of £1.3bn.

“The sterling market is looking strong at the moment, and the UK names, especially, have been able to build big books this year,” said a syndicate banker at one of the leads, “but in that context £1.3bn is still impressive.”

On Monday Norwegian issuer SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt sold an inaugural £500m (Eu566m) five year FRN, which was priced at 27bp over three month Libor on the back of over £800m of orders.

“The price looks fair given where SpaBol came,” said a syndicate banker, “and the larger orders for Santander is what you’d expect for a domestic issuer.”

The deal is Santander UK’s second sterling benchmark covered bond of the year, following a £1bn three year FRN in April. The last sterling benchmark from a UK issuer came in May, when Barclays issued a £1bn three year FRN.