Nordics

The cloud which has lingered over the European IPO market since Easter, has abated slightly this week as a number of deals progressed quickly during bookbuilding. Two in particular have outperformed the rest of the market.

The world’s largest salmon producer, Marine Harvest, sold the Nordic fish farming industry’s first bond for five years last week and as the industry scales up sources say a wave of issuance from the sector could be on the way.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2018 funding programmes.

Kojamo, Finland’s largest residential property company, has set the range on its Helsinki listing, valuing it at over €2.1bn.

Telecoms firm Lebara this week pushed back a deadline to avoid breaching reporting covenants of its only bond, a high yield note under Norwegian law, leaving some market participants worried about contagion.

DNB is preparing to issue its first green covered bond, the proceeds of which will be used to fund the most energy efficient residential mortgages in Norway. The prospective deal has been structured in line with the Green Bond Principles and will be endorsed by Sustainalytics.

OP Mortgage Bank raised €1bn of seven year funding in the covered bond market on Thursday and paid only 1bp more than Nordea’s recent seven year. However, with a €1.2bn order book, it was the least subscribed Finnish covered bond of the year suggesting the tenor has lost some appeal.

Netcompany, the Danish IT services firm listing in Copenhagen, has set a range of Dkr135-Dkr165 on its IPO, valuing the company at just over Dkr6.57bn (€906m) at the bottom of that range.

Aktia Bank attracted strong demand for its tightly priced covered bond on Tuesday, the issuer’s first since March 2015, and the first from its restructured mortgage business.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired a banker from SEB to lead its equity capital markets business in the Nordic region.

Telecoms company TDC fired the opening shot of a multi-billion funding package for its leveraged buyout this week, with some investors showing mixed feelings about such deals.

EQT has cleared out its stake in Terveystalo, the Finnish private healthcare company it floated on the Nasdaq Helsinki in October.