KfW

SSA issuers were out in the dollar market with $7bn of new bonds on Wednesday, though the biggest of the deals highlighted how price sensitive investors were in a world where some yield curves have inverted.

Kommunalbanken brought its green bond framework to the Swedish krona market for the first time last week to place its seventh green note, its first since August 2018. The move into the currency follows a wider trend of major SSA issuers funding in niche currencies as raising debt in core markets becomes harder, according to bankers.

Some SSA investors have been taken by surprise by how quick the dollar market has reopened this week, with the clutch of trades on screens on Wednesday being regarded as important benchmarks for the coming weeks.

The dollar SSA market has started the short week on the front foot, with a trio of trades hitting screens on Tuesday.

KfW brought its revamped green framework to the Norwegian krone market to print a deal on Tuesday. Later that week, strong demand from domestic and international investors let the issuer increase the note to a record breaking size, printing the largest Nokkie green bond across any asset class.

Macquarie’s Green Investment Group has secured debt financing to back its acquisition of a 40% stake in East Anglia One, in a deal that values the Iberdrola-owned wind farm at an enterprise value of £4.1bn.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress that Europe's supranationals and agencies have made in their funding programmes by the mid-point of August.

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.

German agency KfW is “open to further business in [both] Singapore and Hong Kong dollars” as it looks to expand its recently updated green framework. Last week, the agency made its green bond debut in Hong Kong dollars, placing a two year private placement on August 2.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

Sterling is set to play a bigger part in the socially responsible bond market as a result of incoming reforms that are putting the pressure on UK pension funds to focus on environmental, social or governance (ESG) factors in their investments, writes Burhan Khadbai.

Boris Johnson, the UK's new prime minister, has spent most of his first week in power making life difficult for his new chancellor. Announcing big investments in transport infrastructure, health and social care in his first speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street, Johnson is already racking up the bills.