National Australia Bank (NAB) attracted some €4bn of demand to a €1.25bn seven year deal today (Monday), as the euro benchmark covered bond market showed no signs of slowing down after a brief ECB-inspired break on Thursday, with Argenta and Helaba joining the pipeline.

Denmark’s Jyske Realkredit even jumped into the market on Friday with a €750m (DKK5.6bn) seven year deal that attracted over €3bn of orders, after the latest European Central Bank governing council meeting on Thursday yielded no significant surprises for the market. Leads Jyske, LBBW, Nordea, NordLB and Santander were able to tighten pricing from the mid-swaps plus 48bp area to 41bp, minimising any new issue premium.

It was the second consecutive Friday on which a euro benchmark was launched, after a €750m 10 year for La Banque Postale a week earlier (19 January), demonstrating the non-stop nature of supply this year and fertile market conditions.

A syndicate banker today suggested that supply this week could be front-loaded ahead of the outcome of the latest FOMC meeting on Wednesday, but bankers otherwise saw little to suggest any let-up in issuance, which has persisted through the blackout season from issuers with the flexibility to still tap the market.

Helaba is expected tomorrow with a euro benchmark 10 year public sector Pfandbrief via Crédit Agricole, Erste, Helaba, ING, NordLB and RBC. The long-dated German mandate comes after MünchenerHyp set a new reference for top German names in the 10 year maturity on Wednesday.

Priced at 34bp over mid-swaps, that €500m no-grow green mortgage Pfandbrief tightened to 29bp, mid, according to pre-announcement comparables circulated by Helaba’s leads this morning, while a €1.5bn 10 year Rabobank issue sold on Tuesday was at 34bp.

Argenta Sparbank is also eyeing the 10 year maturity, for a debut green covered bond mandated to ABN Amro, LBBW, Natixis and NordLB. The Belgian issuer’s 0.75% March 2029s were seen at 40bp and its 0.01% February 2031s at 49bp.

NAB’s €1.25bn (A$2bn) seven year issue today is the first Australian euro benchmark of the year and only the second non-European euro benchmark of 2024, after a €500m three year green debut for South Korea’s Shinhan Bank last Monday (22 January).

Leads BNP Paribas, BBVA, NAB, SG and UBS attracted some €4bn of orders to the seven year Australian benchmark, allowing for a size of €1.25bn and tightening to mid-swaps plus 58bp.

“€4bn is quite a book for a single-tranche deal,” said a syndicate banker away from the leads. “But other than this, it is following the pattern that issuers are currently enjoying, with new issue concessions on the retreat.

“You start 7bp-8bp back, then take all of this off the table in the execution process to get away with basically zero concession, as NAB did here and as did Arkéa.”

Arkéa Home Loans SFH issued a €1bn 10 year – the fifth French euro benchmark of the year in the 10 year part of the curve. The deal came flat to La Banque Postale’s recent 10 year and flat to fair value, at 45bp, on the back of a final order book of €2.38bn, including €80m of joint lead manager interest, after the pricing was tightened from the 53bp area with books above €2.75bn.

“We gathered a very nice book,” said a syndicate banker at one of the leads, “and then could move quite aggressively 8bp in one go – which investors are getting used to and issuers are very happy to see. It was good that we didn’t have too many drops from the book, which held up quite resiliently.

“It’s yet another trade highlighting the strong demand for the 10 year-plus bracket.”

Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, ING, LBBW, Nykredit and Santander were leads.

Hypo NOe was also in the market today, issuing a €500m no-grow six year mortgage Pfandbrief, expected rating Aa1. Leads BayernLB, Danske, Erste, Natixis, NordLB and UniCredit priced the new issue at mid-swaps plus 51bp following guidance of the 57bp area and on the back of a peak €1.3bn book and final €1.2bn book, including €110m of JLM interest.

A lead banker put the new issue premium at 5bp.

“It’s a really good trade for the issuer, considering it’s a local bank in Austria and hence doesn’t have the broadest investor following as a name like Erste. We could have easily tightened another basis point, but the issuer is keeping in mind that it will be visiting the market twice a year for senior preferred and covered trades, so it is all about balancing what is good for the issuer and investors.”