Finland

Technopolis, the Finnish office space company, has signed a €518m multi-tranche loan, swapping most of its bilateral bank debt lines for syndicated funding.

Rating: Aa1/AA+

Public sector borrowers hit new mid-swap spread tights for the year in dollars this week, but despite the enviable pricing on offer, bankers said that the currency was not offering the kind of super strong conditions that had been on offer last year. That might play in the mind of issuers lining up deals for next week — which is expected to be busy — with bankers saying borrowers might need to offer a little more concession than they have been used to.

The total issuance of investment grade corporate bonds in February was an underwhelming €14.8bn but the property sector has outshone all others in 2018 and this week was no different as investors had further diversification to consider.

Finnish residential property developer Kojamo and French care home operator Orpea added to the geographical diversity of the property company corporate bonds sold this week with a €500m seven year deal, while frequent issuer RCI Banque sold a dual tranche offering

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development set a new pricing bar for 2018 in five year dollars on Wednesday as it equalled its largest ever dollar benchmark size. Municipality Finance was also out in the same tenor, with a trade that leads said had a concession of 2bp-3bp.

The head of capital markets for a Nordic agency has become CEO and president of the organisation, with his old position being filled by an internal promotion.

FMS Wertmanagement on Tuesday took advantage of widening swap spreads to equal the tightest spread to mid-swaps on a five year benchmark so far this year — a level that was “very tight” to KfW, said bankers on the trade. Two other borrowers are lining up to try their luck in the tenor — including one that is aiming for an even tighter spread.

Nordea and BPCE helped revive covered bond market confidence on Wednesday after some lacklustre deal receptions at the start of this week, with the successes due to thoughtful consideration of tenor and pricing strategies.

Santander Consumer Bank AS sold its first ever five year senior bond in the euro market on Monday, raising €500m of new funding with five times as much in orders in tow.

Rating: Baa1/A-/—

Sampo, the Finnish insurance firm, brushed away the recent bout of volatility with a €500m issue of new senior bonds in the euro market on Tuesday.