Lloyds Bank returns to bond market

7th Oct 2013 14:49

Lloyds Bank returned to the bond market on Monday after a two-year break.The retail division of Lloyds Banking Group was due to price a €1bn five-year bond on Monday, Reuters reported.Books were opened by the issuer in early trading. Today´s benchmark trade is only the second senior unsecured issue from a UK bank in the public euro market this year.It comes as the Bank of England's Funding for Lending scheme has resulted in a lack of issuance from UK banks. The shortage has given Lloyds an opportunity to exploit the market. "Investors have been clear that they like Lloyds as a credit and would be keen to get exposure through a public market transaction, and this is an opportunity for us to engage with the market in a cost-effective manner," said Peter Green, manager of senior issuance at Lloyds.The UK lender has hired Barclays, Credit Agricole CIB, Lloyds and UBS for the deal which started marketing at the 70bp area over mid-swaps.The demand for Lloyds was "very strong" despite the softer market backdrop, according to Cincent Hoarau, head of FI & covered bond syndicate at Credit Agricole."Investors are very keen to buy into Lloyds given the long period of absence in primary and I think the results of this deal are likely to catch the attention of other UK banks."Shares in Lloyds Banking Group were down 1.12% to 74.07p at 15:23 on Monday.RD