Belgian Sovereign

A eurozone sovereign has added to what was already one of the busiest starts to a year for central government sterling issuance.

Investors flocked to the Kingdom of Belgium’s inaugural sterling benchmark on Thursday, allowing it to double its original target for the deal.

Next year’s funding picture for European sovereigns became a little clearer on Tuesday, as a pair of issuers unveiled increased debt raising burdens for 2015.

Fluxys Belgium, the gas transmission system operator, priced a €250m 15 year bond on Thursday, but demand for longer dated unrated paper was so strong that the company decided to add a €100m 20 year tranche in response to reverse enquiry.

Three issuers from France, Belgium and Germany raised €2.5bn in the covered bond market this week, and another €1bn transaction was expected from a Finnish issuer on Friday. The deals were all remarkable for the fact that the funding levels set new records for all issuers as the ECB’s allocation continued to grow, squeezing out other investors.

Infrax, the Belgian multi-utility, launched its first bond as a rated entity today, raising €250m of 15 year debt and benefiting from shedding the premium paid by unrated issuers.

Although this week’s primary covered bond supply was limited to three deals and the near term outlook is limited by AQR results and Q3 reporting blackouts, demand reached a substantial €5.4bn of orders. Notable activity included the first public sector issue under Belgium’s covered bond law and the tightest ever Canadian euro print.

Read on to see how selected benchmarks are faring in secondary. Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data.

Nyrstar received around 83% take-up on its €250m rights issue, it said on Thursday as it began to sell the remaining shares in the market.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of selected sovereign issuers. Read on to see which are over the 80% mark.

Sweden demonstrated the depth of demand at the short end of the dollar curve on Thursday, when it was swamped with orders on a two year despite coming at a double digit spread through swaps. Meanwhile, a pair of issuers hit the long end of the curve with 10 year mandates.

This week's scorecard covers the funding progress of sovereign issuers, with all of the eurozone periphery comfortably ahead in their programmes despite some wobbles in secondaries over the past month.