Deals from Caja Rural de Navarra and NAB kept the benchmark covered bond market busy today (Wednesday), with CRN satisfying demand for high-yielding supply and NAB moving out along the curve to sell the longest dated Australian euro benchmark.

National Australia Bank launched its Eu500m 12 year deal via Barclays, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and NAB. Initial price thoughts were in the mid-30s over, with guidance set at 33bp-35bp over.

The deal is the longest dated Australian benchmark covered bond in euros, with a syndicate banker away from the deal noting that a spike in rates should help the issue. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and NAB sold 14 year deals in sterling in August last year.

A syndicate banker away from the leads said the level looks fair and that a coupon of at least 2.25% should be achievable.

“It’s a touch over OATs so that should attract French investors,” he said.

Some Eu750m of orders were placed for the deal, according to bankers away from the deal.

“It looks fine,” said one. “They haven’t underachieved. Anything for Eu500m or more for a 12 year is good and spread-wise it’s right.”

Spanish co-operative bank Caja Rural de Navarra (CRN) will price a Eu500m maximum five year deal at 200bp over mid-swaps, 15bp tighter than the 215bp area where the transaction was marketed yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon in an initial price thoughts phase.

Leads Barclays, Crédit Agricole, DZ Bank and Banco Cooperativo Español built an order book of Eu1.1bn on the basis of guidance of the 210bp over area, which was later revised to 200bp-205bp over.

A syndicate banker away from the leads said that at 200bp over, the deal was offering a yield of nearly 3% and that this will have been the main attraction.

“There’s huge demand for higher yielding names,” he said.

Today’s deal comes after the issuer went on a roadshow last week, and marks the issuer’s public covered bond debut.

A lead syndicate banker said that the deal will probably come with a coupon of 2.875% or 2.5%. The pricing approach took into account covered bond comparables, and that the bank is a better credit than some other cédulas issuers but relatively small, he added.

“It went very well, which you tell by the spread tightening,” he said, adding that demand was not as domestic-driven as one might have expected.