Danske Bank

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.

National Express and Citycon mandated banks on Thursday for bond issues, piling into the November issuance spree before the market goes into hibernation next month.

The first tier two from Spain’s Unicaja Banco was more than three times subscribed this week after it entered a strong new issue market. It appeared alongside ING, which paid a slim 5bp premium to print a deal in the same asset class.

Danske Bank has made its second visit of the year to the euro tier two market, paying a much tighter spread for a deal that was otherwise identical to its earlier transaction. The Danish issuer has been subject to higher capital requirements in 2019, amid the fallout from a series of high profile money laundering investigations.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) refrained from pushing into record territory with the coupon on its new dollar-denominated AT1 on Tuesday, as European banks begin testing new lows for yields in the asset class.

The African Development Bank returned to its inaugural Norwegian krone social bond to increase the trade to Nkr1bn ($109.4m) this week, as it looks to move its social bond framework into other currencies, including dollars.