Bank of Ireland today attracted strong demand in a sale of seven-year bonds, the longest paper issued by one of the country's banks since the financial crisis.
Bank of Ireland priced the bond at mid-swaps plus 195 basis points, compared with initial guidance of 200 to 210 basis points, according to lead managers and the Thomson Reuters news service.
The issue of €500m shows Bank of Ireland's advantage over other lenders such as AIB and Permanent TSB.
The order book for the bond was more than four times subscribed in an issue managed by Citigroup, Danske, Deutsche Bank, Nomura and RBS.
"The announcement attracted a decent reception and investors gave us a lot of positive feedback," a syndicate banker said.
Bank of Ireland sold a covered deal in November, remarketed a contingent capital bond in January, and then returned to the senior market in May as it seeks to wean itself off ECB support.
In August, total ECB borrowing from the country's banks declined to around €43.3 billion - the lowest level since September 2008, according to the Irish finance ministry.
