Nordea Markets

The high grade corporate bond market was again packed with deals on Wednesday, with syndicate bankers expecting no let-up in activity and the week to end on a bang.

Volvo Cars, the Chinese-owned Swedish auto maker, has refinanced its main bank revolver with a €1.3bn sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, as the borrower looks to become climate neutral by 2040.

Finland’s Municipality Finance has had a busy week in the Norwegian krone market, as demand from domestic bank treasuries for high quality liquid assets (HQLA) drove a pair of floating rate notes in the currency.

Huhtamaki, the Finnish food packaging company, has refinanced a €400m facility, with the borrower becoming the latest to add sustainability metrics to its main bank line as an EU ban on single-use plastics comes into force.

Samhällsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden (SBB), the Swedish social housing company, ploughed through fair value on Tuesday with a debut social bond and return to the hybrid market, as tightening spreads encourage investors to keep their wallets open deeper into December.

Henrik Stille, senior portfolio manager at Nordea Asset Management, talked to GlobalCapital about the covered bond market and the incredible returns that his strategies have delivered this year, from traditional long-only solutions to innovative leveraged alternatives.

Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden (SBB), the Swedish social property company, has hired banks for €1bn of new deals made up of a hybrid note and debut social bond, as risk appetite remains strong even heading into the middle of December.

Italy returned to the private placement market to print one of the year’s largest MTNs on Thursday. The deal stood out this week, since issuance in the market has started to wind down ahead of Christmas.

Sub-benchmark deals are not so much of a novelty anymore: a trio of rare names filled their boots with diminutive deals this week, with each attracting bumper demand.

Luminor Bank was more than 3-1/2 times subscribed on its return to the euro market on Wednesday, allowing it to demonstrate a year-on-year improvement in its senior funding costs.

As benchmark issuance remains on the side-lines, smaller issuers have come out to play, with rare borrowers Cassa Centrale Raiffeisen dell’Alto Adige and Luminor Bank on the hunt for deals Lilliputian in size on Tuesday. A handful of larger issuers are keeping a close eye, and could come to the market with small deals of their own in the coming weeks.

Metso Outotec, the Finnish mining equipment maker, and UK warehouse Reit Tritax Big Box have mandated for corporate bond issues, as the euphoria in the high grade market shows little sign of waning.