Nordea in $2.25bn three trancher

Nordea Bank priced a $2.25bn triple tranche senior unsecured bond on Monday, the last day of the first quarter, with a syndicate official at one of the leads noting that a larger deal may have been possible.

The $2.25bn (Eu1.64, Skr14.7bn) included $500m April 2017 fixed and floating rate notes, with the fixed rate tranche priced at 48bp over US Treasuries and the FRN at 36bp over three month Libor. Around $1.25bn of orders were placed for each tranche.

A $1.25bn five year fixed rate tranche was priced at 75bp over Treasuries on the back of $2.5bn of orders. That compares with 85bp over for a $1.5bn five year senior unsecured deal for SEB on 18 March, which drew around $2.8bn of orders.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan were bookrunners on Nordea’s deal. A syndicate official at one of the leads put the new issue premium in the single-digits, putting it at around 3.5bp for the three year fixed rate tranche and 7bp for the five year.

“There was potentially a larger deal on the table, of around $2.5bn,” he said.

The morning after it was priced it was trading nearly 5bp tighter, he added.

Alex Sönnerberg, Nordic FIG DCM at Crédit Agricole CIB, noted how Nordea had issued in dollars soon after SEB.

“The Yankee market continues to be conducive for European banks, so it’s not surprising to see Nordea take advantage of the situation by pricing a substantial three-part offering at an attractive funding cost relative to the euro market.