Opportunistic deals from Bank of Ireland and CaixaBank alongside an issue for Sweden’s LF Hypotek meant the covered bond market was in high gear today (Tuesday) following a return to more stable market conditions, with the peripheral supply gaining the best traction.

Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank, CaixaBank and LF Hypotek all announced new deals this morning, with syndicate bankers noting that the peripheral issuance was most in favour – a theme in the financial institutions market so far this year.

Spain’s CaixaBank hit the screens with a Eu1bn 10 year transaction, its first deal in 12 months and the first 10 year cédulas hipotecarias since BBVA launched a Eu1bn 10 year in January 2013. CaixaBank’s deal is the first Spanish benchmark covered bond since Banco Mare Nostrum sold a Eu500m five year at 190bp over on 8 January.

Leads CaixaBank, Crédit Agricole, HSBC, JP Morgan and UBS built an order book in excess of Eu2.5bn and fixed the spread at 80bp over mid-swaps, tightened from guidance of the low 80s over.

A syndicate official at one of the leads put the new issue premium at close to flat. The 80bp over spread placed the cédulas 65bp through Bonos, he added.

“CaixaBank has a well filled curve, so this was used as the main reference point for pricing,” said the syndicate banker. “But, given that it hasn’t issued covered bonds in a while, we also looked at Santander and BBVA and took into consideration the lack of recent supply and the fact that there was even less on that part of the curve.”

The syndicate banker noted that the 10 year maturity fit well with CaixaBank’s outstanding deals, allowing the issuer to bring a new and liquid point to its curve.

“That’s a good maturity because they have a 22 and a 25 outstanding,” he said. “The 10 year was something we thought could work pretty well with in the current environment, and differentiate it from covered supply, which has mainly been in fives and sevens.”

Its first deal since selling a Eu1bn five year in March 2013, CaixaBank’s new issue was an opportunistic exercise, taking advantage of a build-up of cash and improved market sentiment following volatility last week, according to the syndicate banker.

“A number of factors gelled together, leading to the pick-up in issuance today,” he added. “The technical demand and liquidity has felt pretty good since the beginning of the year, and now the volatility has subsided.”

Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank priced a Eu750m five year deal, with leads BNP Paribas, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and UBS building an order book in excess of Eu2.2bn and foregoing the process of IPTs on the back of a strong showing of investor interest, according to a syndicate official at one of the leads.

Official guidance was set at the 85bp over mid-swaps area, before the price was tightened and fixed at 80bp over, he added, noting that no new issue premium was attached.

As a result of the strong showing, Bank of Ireland’s secondary curve had been tightened by 1bp-2bp, according to the syndicate banker. Bank of Ireland’s decision to issue was opportunistic, he said, noting that the issuer felt that a strong rally in Irish government bonds and buying in Irish covered bonds provided the right time to come to market.

“What we wanted to demonstrate with this transaction was that Bank of Ireland and Irish covered bonds as a whole are moving into the semi-core space,” he said. “The movement from official guidance to pricing was very limited, and this was the first transaction where investors really knew where this was going to come.”

Prior to today’s transaction, Bank of Ireland’s last issue was in November 2013, a Eu1bn four year.

Away from the peripheral deals, Sweden’s LF Hypotek launched a Eu500m no-grow seven year, providing the market with its fifth issue in the maturity in the past month.

Leads BNP Paribas, Nordea, RBS and UniCredit collected Eu1.1bn of orders for the transaction, which was priced at 16bp over. IPTs had started at 18bp-20bp over, before guidance was tightened to the 18bp over area.

A syndicate official away from the leads suggested before pricing was fixed that this could have come tighter still.