Nordea Markets

Sweden’s Peab has almost doubled the size of its local currency credit facility, with the construction and civil engineering company releasing a chunk of the financing once an acquisition finalises.

Banco Sabadell and ASB Finance launched senior bonds in the euro market on Monday, with the former hitting the ‘sweet spot’ of investor appetite and the latter struggling to achieve the same level of demand as its Kiwi peer ANZ New Zealand had last week.

Swedish agency Kommuninvest doubled the size of its June 2023 green bond on Tuesday through a Skr3bn ($309.8m) tap. The tap was issued with a negative yield — rare for the Swedish krona market — and is the issuer’s first negative yielding green print since October 2016.

Two new corporate bond issues hit the market on Friday, wrapping up the busiest week of the year, in which nearly €22bn of new notes have been printed. Despite the frantic activity, investors have been willing to lend, though companies may have had to pay larger new issue premiums.

Credit Suisse was marketing a 10 year bullet senior bond on Tuesday, avoiding negative yields by choosing a tenor longer than seven years. At the same time, Sparebank 1 announced it was readying its green debut in senior format.

After two huge days of corporate bond issuance, Thursday was much quieter, with issues only from Vier Gas Transport and SBB Norden — not because the market was worse, but just because most of the issuers that wanted to come this week had crowded into the first two days.

Following what a banker on Wednesday's euro bond called the ‘richest syndication of all time’, the Republic of Finland is looking at a possible return to the dollar market.

The hail of issuance in European corporate bonds continued at full pelt on Wednesday as Orange and National Grid joined the fray with multi-tranche deals. Investors and issuers seem equally eager to do business.

Finnish nuclear power company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) got a warm reception from the investors on Wednesday, when it sold €550m of senior unsecured notes after a 20bp tightening from initial price thoughts.

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.

The Nordic corporate bond market may be starting to stir from its deep summer sleep, as Samhällsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden (SBB) revealed on Tuesday plans for a new issue. The Swedish housing and social infrastructure company, rated BBB-/BBB- (both stable), has announced a roadshow starting on August 23 for a seven year euro note.

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.