DNB Bank

Investors flocked to Nordic and Canadian covered bonds issued this week by DNB Boligkreditt, Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and National Bank of Canada, perhaps reflecting a view that their spreads are well positioned to withstand the European Central Bank’s withdrawal from covered bond market.

DNB Boligkreditt attracted a comfortably oversubscribed order book for its €1.5bn seven year covered bond on Monday, illustrating the market’s sweet-spots for tenor, name and jurisdiction.

Danske Bank has hired DNB Markets’ JoJo Thirasilpa as a managing director in leveraged finance.

Ice Group, a Norwegian provider of wireless telecommunications, has begun pre-marketing for an IPO on the main board of the Oslo Stock Exchange.

The euro high yield market was giving signs that investor discrimination is back this week, as borrowers IDG and Victoria respectively marketed and postponed new issue bond deals.

Luminor Bank, an Estonian financial institution, was looking to place a small senior unsecured deal in the euro market on Wednesday, in spite of volatile market conditions. The transaction will be the issuer’s first step towards reducing its reliance on bank facilities as a means of funding.

Though neither DNB Bank nor Länsförsäkringar Bank (LF Bank) were flooded with orders for new five year senior bonds on Tuesday, the Nordic pair were able to place their deals in the market comfortably.

The Cover and GlobalCapital held the annual Covered Bond Awards Dinner on Thursday night at BMW Welt in Munich, celebrating the best performers in the market.

Sweden’s SSAB has ramped up the size of its euro denominated revolving credit facility to €600m, as the high strength steelmaker becomes the latest beneficiary of the liquidity flooding the loan markets.

Cloetta, the Swedish confectionery company, has amended and extended its euro and krona loans in an entirely Nordic banking affair, and also launched a commercial paper programme.

DNB Boligkreditt showed this week that borrowers have a very good incentive to consider issuing green covered bonds, especially now that the European Central Bank has signalled its intention to reduce net buying of assets under the Covered Bond Purchase Programme (CBPP3) to zero by December.

Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum has slashed 90bp off the margin of its $5bn reserves-based lending facility, as borrowers continue to heap pressure on lenders over pricing.