ING Belgium garnered one of the most dynamic covered bond books of recent weeks today (Thursday), taking some EUR1.8bn of orders for a EUR1bn eight year issue that benefitted from Belgium’s scarcity, appreciation of the ING name, and what was deemed a fair price.

Leads BBVA, Commerzbank, Helaba, ING, Nordea, SG and UniCredit launched the eight year issue with guidance of the mid-swaps plus 6bp area this morning. Guidance was later revised to the 4bp area, plus or minus 1bp, before the spread was fixed at 3bp and the size at EUR1bn, with books at EUR1.8bn.

“It is one of the most dynamic books we have seen recently,” said a syndicate banker away from the leads. “They can be very happy with this deal.”

The book is the largest for a euro benchmark covered bond since Royal Bank of Canada on 30 August gathered more than EUR2bn of orders for a EUR1.5bn issue. Bankers noted that in recent weeks such non-Eurozone trades have tended to attract greater demand than CBPP3-eligible Eurozone trades, which they said made ING Belgium’s result even more notable.

“This indicates that big books are still possible if you have a good name and a fair price,” said a syndicate banker away from the leads. “People appreciate the ING name, irrespective of whether it is issuance from the Netherlands or from Belgium.”

The final spread was seen as incorporating a 3bp-4bp new issue premium, with bankers citing ING Belgium May 2025s at around minus 1bp, mid, and Belfius September 2026s also at around minus 1bp.

Bankers said the deal probably also proved popular because of the relative scarcity of Belgian covered bond supply, with the new issue being only the fifth Belgian benchmark of 2018, and of the ING Belgium name specifically, with the new issue only its fourth benchmark covered bond – albeit its second this year, following a EUR1.25bn seven year issue in May.

ASB Finance Limited has been on the road marketing a potential euro covered bond issue since last Friday, and today the New Zealand issuer announced that it plans to launch a EUR500m no-grow seven year deal as early as next week, after completing the roadshow tomorrow (Friday).