Nordics

A $120.6m borrowing to support an acquisition by Indian company Tata AutoComp Systems was signed this week, with 16 lenders joining the two mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Crédit Agricole issued one of three euro benchmark covered bonds this week, attracting demand that topped the combined interest seen in deals issued by Swedbank and HVB.

Sweden’s Hoist Kredit could test the euro market for a new tier two offering in the coming weeks, as it aims to improve its capital structure through a number of capital markets transactions.

Swedbank took advantage of strong market conditions to issue its second covered bond of the year which was priced with a negligible concession and extended its curve.

Telenor, the Norwegian telecoms company, has sold a 4% stake in Veon, the Russian telco formerly called VimpelCom, for $262.5m through a block trade.

Market participants were unimpressed by the European Union's effort at the long end, but the week's other benchmarks fared better.

KommuneKredit is set to hit the road for its debut green bond, after mandating banks on Thursday.

The heads of funding at DNB Boligkreditt and Royal Bank of Canada told delegates at this week’s IMN conference that investors are well protected from a potential fall in house prices. UK covered bonds are similarly resilient, said a director at Fitch Ratings. And even in a hard Brexit, the privileged position of covered bonds would be upheld by UK courts, said a partner at Clifford Chance.

SR Boligkreditt has issued its first Reg S dollar covered bond, and though the book was slow to build the issuer found enough demand to ensure the deal was eligible for bank liquidity portfolios in the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR).

Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK) has returned to sterling for a tap of a December 2020 line, as investors’ confidence in the currency grows.

Two European IPOs reached conclusions on Friday, March 31. That of Ambea was heavily oversubscribed, while UniEuro's had to be shrunk and restructured to get it over the line.

Issuer Rating: Baa1/A-