Danske Bank

Volumes are growing across the spectrum in the Scandinavian MTN markets, as issuers and bankers return from their summer holidays. Meanwhile, bankers are expecting Scandinavian investors to move further out along the credit curve in response to negative yields as dovish Nordic central bank tones could lead to a bullish Scandinavian market.

Analysts at Danske Bank have said that Moody's could raise Portugal's credit rating this week even, amid signs of a weakening European economy. Such a move would have a knock-on impact for the country's banking industry, which has shown clear progress in improving its asset quality.

Handelsbanken has appointed Juha Mustonen as its new head of debt capital markets for Finland. He will work with Finnish loan and bond clients.

Finnish stainless steel producer Outokumpu has signed a €400m sustainability-linked term loan, used mostly for refinancing its short term debt, and featuring margin cuts if the company hits targets linked to workplace accidents and carbon emissions. It's a step forward in a leveraged finance market that has so far taken only tentative steps towards sustainability.

A trio of SSAs made the most of low yields in Danish kroner and Swedish kronor to print paper with coupons hovering around zero this week.

Three Nordic banks and one British bank placed paper in Swedish krona this week. NatWest Markets made its debut in the currency, while Scandinavian-based Avida Finans printed its first AT1. Avida Finans plans to follow this debut AT1 with a future stock exchange listing.

Issuance in Swedish kronor picked up this week, with three corporate issuers placing Skr6.28bn ($667.9m) across four private placements, as issuers looked to get in ahead of the midsummer break. In euros, a Dutch and French agency both placed paper, while protests in Hong Kong caused yields to spike in offshore Chinese renminbi and Hong Kong dollars.

Sweden’s Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) has signed credit lines totalling Skr6bn ($638m), though the bulk of facility for the timber, pulp and paper company will remain undrawn.

Finland’s SRV Group has extended its €100m revolving credit facility, as full refinancing operations remain elusive in what is proving to be a tough loans market in EMEA this year.

Renault issued a €1bn bond from its industrial arm on Monday, after a tumultuous few weeks in which the company had negotiated a (for now) abandoned merger offer from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The deal came amid a busy flurry of smaller issues.

An infrequent Swedish corporate issuer, a Nordic bank, and a German car manufacturer all placed floaters larger than Skr1bn ($106m) in the last week. Swedish krona bonds have been popular with both public and private issuers in recent weeks, as both issuers and investors rush to get business done before the traditional midsummer market closure.

While four new issuers were squeezing into the euro corporate bond market on Wednesday, Norwegian Property, an unrated real estate investment company, slipped a Nkr950m (€97m) three tranche deal into the market.