Irish Nationwide has raised €1 billion in debt ahead of its expected demutualisation this year. The latest issue brings the total raised by the building society via euro-denominated medium-term notes since 2002 to almost € 5 billion.

BNP Paribas, which helped arrange the transaction, said Irish Nationwide received 63 orders from 13 countries for the three-year notes. While the guide price for the EMTN was set at 15 basis points higher than the three-month Euribor, strong demand led the price to tighten to 14 basis points above the Euribor.

Irish Nationwide attributed the high investor demand for its latest issue to the release of its 2005 results, which showed that pretax profit climbed 30 per cent to €176 million for 2005.

However, another source said demand for the EMTN was driven by investor optimism that Irish Nationwide was expected to be bought once it was demutualised and that its new owner would have a higher credit rating. The price of the notes would then appreciate.

The Government aims to enact legislation to demutualise Irish Nationwide before the Dáil's summer recess, clearing the way for the sale of one the last building societies in the Irish market. A sale would deliver a cash windfall to about 120,000 qualifying members of Irish Nationwide.

Managing director Michael Fingleton has said society members would be presented with a single proposal embracing demutualisation and the sale of the society soon after the legislation was passed. Such a proposal would first require Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority approval.

The society's latest transaction was also arranged by Danske Bank. Davy, DZ Bank Frankfurt, and LBBW Stuttgart acted as co-leads on the deal.