My Money Bank SCF (MMB SCF) achieved a strong outcome on a €500m no-grow 10 year issue today (Monday), albeit at a moderate pace. An Italian debut and a rare Spanish deal have joined a green-tinged euro pipeline that has quickly refilled, while UOB is due in sterling tomorrow.

Following a mandate announcement on Thursday last week, MMB SCF leads ABN Amro, Crédit Agricole, DekaBank, DZ, HSBC and Natixis opened books this morning with initial guidance of the mid-swaps plus 11bp area for the €500m no-grow triple-A rated September 2031 obligations foncières. After around two hours, books above €750m were reported, and after a little over three hours, the spread was fixed at plus 8bp on the back of books over €850m, excluding €85m joint lead manager interest. Ultimately, over €1.4bn of orders were good at re-offer, including €75m in JLM interest.

Syndicate bankers at and away from the leads said the deal had gone well, even if it had started slowly.

“We were quite surprised after the first update to see that there was quite some demand left afterwards, with some accounts coming a bit later,” said a lead banker. “The name is not very familiar to a lot of investors, so some are a bit cagey to open the line on a name.”

Another lead banker said investors were also keen to see the final terms before committing, and that this “pickiness” was evident in some deals in other asset classes, while the Monday morning timing was also cited as a factor.

The leads put fair value at 6bp-7bp, implying a new issue premium of 1bp-2bp. A syndicate banker away from the leads put the NIP at 1bp and complimented the pricing achieved.

“It’s not a very well followed name or a super-strong name either, but I think the pricing is actually very strong,” he said.

He put the pick-up over top French banks at around 6bp and a syndicate banker at one of the leads put it at 4bp-5bp, suggesting a new 10 year from one of MMB’s bigger compatriots would come at 3bp-4bp over mid-swaps. He noted that this was “dramatically” lower than the issuer’s debut in October 2018 and also some 10bp lower than the pick-up of around 15bp it paid over its compatriots in its last trade, a €500m 10 year in October 2020 that attracted some €2.3bn of orders.

The lead banker said the improvement reflected both the compression of spreads across the covered bond market, but also the development of MMB’s profile – it is expected to grow significantly upon the acquisition of HSBC’s French retail banking activities.

“They are still relatively small,” he said, “but they have quite a strong story to tell and will see a drastic change in their balance sheet. More investors are looking at the name, and this nice follow-up trade after the October blow-out is a positive development for the issuer.”

Today’s new issue comes after the euro market last week enjoyed its busiest week of the year, with seven issues totalling €6.35bn hitting the market, and the pipeline has quickly refilled.

Italy’s Iccrea Banca is planning an inaugural euro benchmark off a €10bn OBG programme, with Barclays, Commerzbank, IMI-Intesa Sanpaolo, Santander and Natixis set to launch the €500m no-grow seven year tomorrow (Tuesday) or Wednesday, following investor calls and feedback.

NordLB could launch a green Pfandbrief on Wednesday, according to a lead banker, on the back of positive investor feedback during marketing that followed a mandate announcement last Wednesday. ABN Amro, Natixis, NatWest, NordLB, Santander and UniCredit are joint leads for the €500m five to seven year German issue.

UniCredit also today mandated a debut green mortgage Pfandbrief. Launch is expected after investor calls this week.

Eurocaja Rural (formerly Caja Rural Castilla-La Mancha) is planning a debut 10 year sustainable covered bond, rated Aa1, which is set to be the first Spanish euro benchmark in over a year. RBI, Santander and UniCredit are lead managers.

South Korea’s Kookmin Bank is also understood to be in the pipeline for a new euro benchmark.

Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) is expected to hit the sterling market tomorrow with a five year Sonia-linked debut, following investor calls today. BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and UOB are leads.