Danske Bank

Danske Mortgage Bank, Santander UK, Raiffeisenlandesbank Hypothekenpfandbrief and UniCredit Bank AG were marketing covered bonds on Wednesday, steering well clear of negative yields by tapping into healthy demand for long dated assets.

A Dkr6.4bn (€856m) block of shares in Danish renewable energy firm Ørsted reopened the EMEA ECM market on Tuesday evening and attracted huge investor demand for the stock — including from ESG investors.

Issuers rushed to open the euro covered bond market this week. Trades from ABN Amro, Erste Group and LBBW showed that investors are ready to put cash to work, but higher new issue premiums suggested that issuers were taking a 'conservative' approach at the beginning of the year.

BNP Paribas and Danske Bank were looking to raise non-preferred senior debt in the sterling market on Tuesday, with the cost of funding in the currency having fallen into line with euro pricing levels.

For public sector issuers, niche currency deals have offered attractive opportunities for arbitrage funding, with spreads into euros and dollars spurring on demand this year. Meanwhile, strong investor appetite for green paper has seen niche shoots blossom throughout 2019. Frank Jackman reports

Specialisation could define MTNs in 2020 as the market looks to differentiate itself from public markets where borrowers are easily executing large, cheap, liquid benchmarks. MTN dealers’ change of focus is shaking up the league tables. Frank Jackman reports

Denmark’s government debt management office has formally proposed issuing green bonds in which the green element can be stripped off and traded separately — something that would be a world first, and would ask difficult questions of the green bond market. The DMO said investors had welcomed the idea.

Danske Bank has appointed two senior bankers to lead its reorganised global debt capital business.

Groupe BPCE and BNP Paribas issued green bonds this week, attracting strong levels of demand for such a late stage in the year.

Intesa Sanpaolo and BNP Paribas hurried to make use of strong market conditions this week, building blowout order books for a pair of new senior deals in socially responsible formats.

Three companies piled into the euro bond market on Monday, but the deals drew mixed reactions. Two standard investment grade issues from LafargeHolcim and Ford Motor Credit appeared to fare better than a rare green hybrid from Citycon paying a juicy yield.

Sweden’s Recipharm has agreed a debt-backed deal to buy the UK’s Consort Medical for an enterprise value of about £627m ($810m), as the pharmaceuticals sector remains a consistent area of M&A activity.