Europe
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It was third time lucky for Norway this week as it rocketed to a Nkr65bn ($7.0bn) order book with its third syndication. There was a marked increase in real money participation, meeting one of the Norges Bank’s main aims for its syndication programme. -
Société du Grand Paris hoovered up strong demand this week to sell the longest ever public syndicated green bond. The French agency was joined by three other public sector borrowers in raising socially responsible bonds this week, including the first European city to issue a social-labelled bond.
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Covered bonds issued this week by Berlin Hyp and Deutsche Hypo would have struggled without demand from the European Central Bank, suggesting the central bank is crowding out investor demand from the private sector.
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A broad and diversified group of investors placed large orders for ING Belgium’s €1.25bn 10 year covered bond issued on Thursday, lapping up its positive reoffer yield and the convincing spread pick-up, as well as the rarity and strength of the name. The resounding response stood in contrast to two tightly priced negative yielding Pfandbriefe issued earlier this week.
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Calisen, the UK operator of smart meters which has completed the first major European IPO of the year, was trading above issue price on Thursday, to the relief of sources close to the trade after early selling dampened its stock market debut.
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Arion Bank showed its eagerness to issue additional tier one (AT1) capital on Thursday as Icelandic banks get ready to benefit from a change in the national tax treatment of the instruments.
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Municipality Finance will look to issue a debut social bond in the second half of this year, having just become the first borrower in Finland to publish a framework for the format.
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Investec has furthered its push in corporate finance with five new hires. It continues to win new UK broking mandates.
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Italian banks have been piling into the primary bond market in the first quarter, capitalising on an incredible rally in the sector as investors look for new sources of value.
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Sam Woods, deputy governor at the Bank of England and chief executive of the Prudential Regulatory Authority, this week said he expects an equivalence agreement between the European Union and the UK to be extended beyond September, as both sides want to avoid a “dramatic” fallout.
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Two milestones were passed on Wednesday, in the financial sector’s recognition of the reality of climate change — BP, the oil and gas group, revealed a new “net zero” strategy, and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures announced it had 1,000 supporters. But how much impact these moves have will depend on future actions.
