Banks

SpareBank 1 SMN’s second green bond, priced on Thursday, is set to spark a flurry of similar green deals as issuers try and take advantage of the demand on offer for labelled debt — even at near-term tights.

Castellum, a Nordic real estate company, has failed in its bid for Norwegian rival Entra, leading to the cancellation of $3.5bn-equivalent of bridge financing.

US banking group JP Morgan has sold a new three-year €390m synthetic bond exchangeable into shares in Siemens, the German industrial conglomerate.

Six Chinese companies sold Rmb6.4bn ($994m) of ‘carbon neutrality bonds’ this week, supporting Beijing’s goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2060. The format could lead to a spike in international investor interest in China’s debt market. Addison Gong reports.

New Horizon Health, a medical device manufacturer, has scooped up HK$2.04bn ($263.4m) from its IPO after strong institutional investor demand pushed pricing up to the top of the marketed range.

Société Générale and Natixis both endured a difficult 2020 in their markets business, but in the fourth quarter their equities divisions managed to pull off a brighter performance.

Ørsted, the Danish power company, pushed into the green hybrid sterling market on Wednesday, with the largely UK-based sterling buyer base proving to be just as keen on the debt as their euro counterparts.

Norway comfortably set a new order book record as it came to the market for just its fifth ever syndicated transaction on Wednesday.

Chuka Umunna has been appointed by JP Morgan to a newly created post of head of ESG for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest bank in the UAE, debuted in the euro market on Tuesday, selling a bond that was more than twice subscribed just a week after it entered the sterling market.

KfW became the latest in a series of top SSA names to launch an ESG transaction in Canadian dollars, tapping into a growing base of investors in the country.

Norway’s Sparebank 1 SMN is set to return with its second green bond in the coming days, becoming the third Nordic issuer to tap the public market this year.