CaixaBank places €750 million in a new Tier 2 subordinated bond, with demand in excess of €3.2 billion

• This is CaixaBank's sixth issue in 2022, and the first Tier 2 bond since March 2021. It is the first Tier 2 bond issued from a Spanish bank since the Ukraine war.
• This new issue, which bolsters the existing the Tier 2 capital buffer and reinforces the bank's total capital position, expires in 10 years and 3 months, and provides an early redemption option for the issuer starting in the year five.
• Strong demand allowed the interest rate to dip 45 basis points, to mid-swap +355 bp. Orders were taken from more than 200 institutional investors, which reaffirms the market's appetite for CaixaBank credit.

Today, CaixaBank closed out its sixth public bond issue of 2022. The bank placed €750 million in a subordinated Tier 2 format. The amount was set in the issue announcement, and the bond matures in 10 years and 3 months, with an early redemption option in the fifth year. This is the first subordinated Tier 2 issue since March 2021.

With this operation, the bank is leveraging and reinforcing its total capital cushion and ratio by 35 basis points (bp) to 16.87%, reinforcing its cushion above the minimum required, to 434 bp.

The price was set at 355 bp above mid-swap, 45 bp below the 400 bp offered in the announcement. This is thanks to the high demand, which was in excess of €3.2 billion and involved over 200 institutional investors, despite coinciding with 8 operations from financial entities on the same day, including two other subordinated Tier 2 issues. Of note is the significant interest from foreign investors, who account for 96% and the excellent quality of the order book. The coupon was set at 6.25%.

The final book was 3.9x oversubscribed, well above the 2.3x average for Tier 2 bonds executed in euros this year. It is the first Tier 2 bond from a Spanish bank since the Ukraine war broke out.

CaixaBank expects the issue to receive a rating of Ba1/BBB-/BBB- from Moody’s, S&P and Fitch. The companies responsible for the placement were Barclays, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Citi and Société Générale.