Argenta Spaarbank attracted a book of over €2bn to its second euro benchmark covered bond today (Wednesday), a €500m no-grow 20 year, while CIBC priced a €1bn five year on the back of €1.5bn of demand in the wake of supply from its compatriots.

After a mandate announcement yesterday (Tuesday), Argenta Spaarbank NV leads Barclays, Belfius, LBBW and Natixis opened books this morning with initial guidance of the mid-swaps plus 14bp area for the €500m no-grow October 2041 issue, expected rating triple-A. After an hour and five minutes, they reported books above €1bn, including €165m in joint lead manager interest. After an hour and 50 minutes, the guidance was revised to plus 10bp+/-1bp, will price in range, on the back of books above €1.9bn. After two hours, the spread was fixed at plus 9bp, with order books above €2bn, and the final book at re-offer was above €1.9bn, including the €165m in JLM interest.

A lead syndicate banker said the deal went well, as reflected in the spread movement and book size. He said the initial guidance took into account positive feedback received after the mandate announcement, but was also accommodative.

“We understand, of course, that investors are busy nowadays and not all accounts reflect feedback on the day of the announcement, but show their cards when the official guidance is out there,” he said.

“At the end of the day, with the book we gathered together, we were in a position of power to move the spread by 5bp.”

The deal is only the Belgian issuer’s second euro benchmark, following a €500m 10 year in February. The lead banker estimated fair value for the name in the 20 year part of the curve to be in the mid-high single-digits.

“We will see where it will be trading in a couple of days and then I think that will be the practical, fair value for such a transaction,” he said, “but I strongly believe we will see a very decent performance of the bond, given how many accounts were involved as a whole and the book in absolute terms for a €500m deal.”

According to pre-announcement comparables circulated by the leads yesterday, Argenta’s 10 year paper was quoted at 0.6bp through mid-swaps, mid. Recent de Volksbank and ABN Amro 20 year issues were quoted at plus 3.8bp and plus 4.5bp, respectively.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) leads CIBC, Commerzbank, HSBC, NatWest and UBS announced its new issue this morning and went out with initial guidance of the mid-swaps plus 8bp area for the October 2026 euro benchmark, expected rating triple-A. After an hour and five minutes, they reported books above €1bn. After two hours and 55 minutes, the spread was set at plus 4bp on the back of an order book above €1.5bn, including €60m in JLM interest. The size was ultimately set at €1bn (C$1.48bn) with a book of around €1.4bn good at re-offer.

“It was a totally textbook execution,” said a syndicate banker away from the leads. “A very good trade, and I’m sure they are happy with it.”

He said the five year maturity both differentiated CIBC’s trade from a €1.25bn five year from compatriot RBC yesterday, and took advantage of the recent back-up in yields, which has made the five to seven year part of the curve less unattractive.

A banker at one of the leads said the maturity appealed to central banks and bank treasuries, as well as fitting well with the issuer’s maturity profile.

He noted that CIBC had sized its deal proportionately smaller relative to the size of its order book than did RBC yesterday, when it printed its €1.25bn on the back of €1.6bn of orders.

Syndicate bankers put fair value for CIBC at 3bp, implying a 1bp new issue premium, marginally lower than RBC was deemed to have paid for its larger deal yesterday, but slightly higher than National Bank of Canada, which priced a smaller, €750m five year flat to fair value last Thursday.