Credit Suisse tightened pricing 10bp from initial price thoughts on a $1.5bn five year tranche and a $2bn 10 year tranche, for which the spreads were set at US Treasuries plus 225bp and 280bp respectively.
The final spread was set at three month Libor plus 229bp for a $1bn five year floating rate note.
Rival bankers said Credit Suisse paid much slimmer premiums across all tranches of the self-led deal than it would have been able to in euros, on top of the additional spread all lenders are required to pay to print bonds from their holding companies rather than their operating companies.
Credit Suisse sold its first euro senior unsecured deal of the year only last week, returning to the market for a dual tranche transaction comprising three year and 10 year bonds.
The Swiss lender chose to issue those bonds via its operating company after it was forced to drop the 10 year tranche from an identical trade launched via its holding company last June.
Bankers said the decision to target dollars this week showed the US market offered tempting opportunities for issuers seeking holdco senior funding this quarter.
While most European financial institutions do not have holdco-opco structures, banks in Switzerland and the United Kingdom do, allowing them to gradually refinance operating company level senior debt with total loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) eligible holdco senior debt.
“If you are looking at all the alternatives across currencies, which all multinational funders should be, then dollars look like a much more attractive proposition right now,” said one FIG syndicate banker away from the CS trade.
“The US investor base is always deeper, but with the backdrop we have today regarding basis swaps, depth of demand and high expectations around further supply in the euro holdco space, the dollar trade looks all the more tempting.”