National Bank of Canada and Stadshypotek rounded off a third consecutive busy week in euro benchmarks yesterday (Thursday) with successful trades, but syndicate bankers expect the pace of issuance to moderate and no benchmark mandates are officially in the pipeline.

Four euro benchmarks totalling €2.75bn took September supply past January’s to make the month the busiest of the year, while activity was boosted by sub-benchmark issuance. The only official euro mandate outstanding is a €300m five year Icelandic euro first for Arion Bank.

Syndicate bankers said the odd benchmark trade is likely to surface, but that a slowdown is expected.

“It feels as if it will cool down,” said one. “But I’m sure we’ll still see a few trades pop up in the coming weeks – there’s still a little time before issuers enter silent periods.”

Another syndicate banker said his bank had exhausted all its concrete covered bond projects, although said that a couple are expected in the first week of October. Nearer term, the outcome of German elections on Sunday will need to be digested on Monday to gauge investor appetite for new issues next week, he added.

Yesterday morning, National Bank of Canada (NBC) leads BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, HSBC, NBCFM and UBS opened books with initial guidance of the mid-swaps plus 7bp area for its September 2026 issue, expected rating triple-A. After four hours, the size was set at €750m (C$1.12bn) and the spread fixed at plus 3bp on the back of books above €1.5bn, including €60m in joint lead manager interest.

A banker at one of the leads said the trade had gone very well, noting it was twice subscribed and priced flat to fair value. He cited three factors behind the deal’s success.

“National isn’t the most active name, so they have some scarcity value,” said the lead banker, “and also they elected to hit the five year part of the curve, which appeals to a very broad investor base and is undersupplied as a whole. And then investors continue to like euro covereds.

“The fact they have come flat to where the majors come is an excellent result,” he added.

Yesterday’s trade is NBC’s second euro benchmark of the year, its first having been a €500m seven year in March. A syndicate banker away from the leads said the opening up of the five year sector this year had been a boon for Canadian issuers, who prefer such shorter maturities to the longer tenors that had previously been deemed more appropriate for euro benchmarks in the ultra-low yield environment.

Stadshypotek leads Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Handelsbanken, SG and UBS went out yesterday morning with initial guidance of the mid-swaps plus 8bp area for the Swede’s September 2030 issue. After about an hour, they reported books above €1bn. After about three hours, the spread was fixed at plus 4bp and issue size set at €1bn (SEK10.1bn) after demand hit some €1.4bn.

Syndicate bankers away from the leads said the Svenska Handelsbanken subsidiary’s deal also went well. However, one suggested the pricing process – both the starting point and a new issue premium he put at around 1p – reflected the “decent” €1bn size the issuer was taking out of the market, while another noted that at the beginning of the supply wave two weeks ago Stadshypotek might have achieved a slightly tighter level.

The euro benchmark is Stadshypotek’s first since November 2020, when it issued a €1bn eight year.