Danske Bank

KfW returned to the Norwegian krone market on Tuesday, increasing a two year Nokkie line by Nkr500m ($64.7m). International buyers are returning to the currency, largely as a consequence of stabilising oil prices. But bankers are sceptical that issuance levels will return to the heights reached before the collapse of Brent crude prices.

The Nordic Investment Bank issued its largest Swedish krona environmental bond on Wednesday as demand for socially responsible investments grows in Scandinavia.

AR Packaging, the Swedish maker of packaging for food, increased its LBO loans with a dividend recapitalisation deal on Tuesday. The move follows a trend of loan borrowers taking on more leverage ahead of new European Central Bank guidance on leverage limits.

A week long roadshow and investor meetings in six countries paid off for Swedish debt collector Intrum Justitia, which sold the bond to fund its merger with Lindorff with an average coupon of below 3% on Friday.

It is often suggested that issuers have to pay up for issuing sub-benchmark sized deals. However, this week two corporate issuers printed successful €300m transactions with little discernible premium compared to benchmark transactions.

Tennet, the Dutch electricity grid company, brought a €1bn dual tranche green bond issue today that was oversubscribed, but by less than has been common, suggesting that demand for corporate bonds may be cooling.

Sub-benchmark transactions made up a chunk of Wednesday’s busy euro primary market, with Metso Corp and Neste bringing bonds for less than €500m.

Shares in Boozt, the Scandinavian online fashion retailer, closed 25% higher on Wednesday after they began trading on Nasdaq Stockholm after its heavily oversubscribed Skr1.6bn (€166m) IPO. It rose another 3% on Thursday.

The IPO of Boozt, the Nordic online fashion retailer, is due to be priced at Skr62, near the top of the Skr54 to Skr63 initial price range, giving it an initial market capitalisation of Skr3.44bn (€350m) when it begins trading on Wednesday, May 31.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt and Société Générale enjoyed solid receptions for their covered bonds this week, with the Norwegian issuer pricing flat to its curve.

The Skr1.4bn (€143m) IPO of Boozt, the Nordic online fashion retailer, was this week covered at its maximum size throughout its price range.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt issued its second ever covered bond and, similar to deals issued last week, was able to price flat to its curve. But its bonds are not eligible for the ECB's purchase programme, unlike some of last week's tightest issues, which could limit performance potential.