CaixaBank makes its first debt issue in the US market

• The bank has placed US$1.25 billion, in the form of a senior non-preferred bond, in order to diversify its investor base.
• Demand has exceeded US$3.4 billion. 90 institutional investors participated in CaixaBank’s inaugural issue in dollars.

CaixaBank has made its first debt placement in dollars in the US market. The bank has placed US$1.25 billion in 6-year senior non-preferred debt, with an early redemption option in the fifth year, in the form of a senior non-preferred bond.

The price was set at 250 basis points (bps) over the 5-year US Treasury benchmark, 25 bps below the 275 bps offered in the announcement, thanks to the high demand, which exceeded 3.4 billion dollars. 90 institutional investors participated in CaixaBank’s inaugural issue in dollars.

This issue is CaixaBank’s first step towards becoming a regular issuer in the US market, as it seeks to diversify its investor base by establishing a liquid issue in the secondary market that will serve as a benchmark for future issuance exercises in the US market. Diversification enables CaixaBank to reach a larger number of investors and, therefore, achieve lower funding costs and a greater capacity to appeal to the market. In the case of the dollar-denominated issuance, it provides access to a sizable and stable investor base, enabling the bank to issue in practically any market circumstances.

The step into the US market was highly advisable for a bank of CaixaBank’s size, which has grown significantly in recent years to become Spain’s largest bank in terms of balance sheet size and one of Europe’s largest retail banks in terms of business volume and market capitalisation.

This issue enables CaixaBank to continue to strengthen its position in bail-inable liabilities, comfortably above the MREL requirement set for 1 January 2024, and reasserts the bank’s commitment to continue building the bail-inable debt buffer in order to increase protection for senior creditors and depositors.

The banks in charge of the placement were Barclays, BNP Paribas, BofA Securities, CaixaBank, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley.

This US$1.25 billion comes in addition to the sterling and Swiss franc issues made in previous years.  In March 2022, CaixaBank issued £500 million of senior non-preferred debt; in June 2021, it issued CHF200 million of senior non-preferred debt; and in May 2021, it placed a senior non-preferred green bond amounting to £500 million. Furthermore, in the Japanese market it has made three issues in yen totaling more than €180 million.