ING Belgium is set to launch its first euro benchmark since September 2018 tomorrow (Thursday), after having announced the mandate for a 10 year euro benchmark this afternoon, and a jumbo trade offering scarce exposure to the jurisdiction is anticipated.

Barclays, DZ, ING, LBBW, Nykredit, Santander and UniCredit were named as leads for the deal today (Wednesday).

The ING subsidiary’s last euro benchmark was a €1bn eight year transaction in September 2018, which was almost twice-subscribed.

The last euro benchmark from a Belgian issuer was a €500m no-grow 10 year from Belfius on 21 January that attracted over €3.3bn of orders, with the “mind-blowing” demand partly attributed to the lack of opportunities for investors to gain Belgian exposure.

Belfius was the only Belgian issuer to tap the market in 2019, with one euro benchmark, and the only other issuer from the jurisdiction to have sold a euro benchmark since ING Belgium’s last was BNP Paribas Fortis.

According to pre-announcement comparables circulated by the leads, ING Belgium’s May 2025s and September 2026s were each at 3bp over mid-swaps, mid.

A syndicate banker at one of the leads said the issuer’s own curve was the most relevant, and being quite flat, he saw fair value for the impending issue in the context of 4bp-5bp.

Having been issued at 4bp over mid-swaps, Belfius’s recent January 2030s have tightened to 1bp over mid-swaps, mid.

The lead banker anticipated that the new issue’s size would be around €1bn, based on ING Belgium’s previous activity.

“ING Belgium is the not the most frequent covered bond issuer in Belgium,” he said, “but it is the largest. Its 2026s is a €1bn and its 2025s is €1.25bn, so it’s going to be something in that context as well.”