Nordics

LeoVegas, the Swedish mobile gambling company, shot up 44% at the start of trading after its IPO on Thursday, before losing some of its gains in the afternoon.

After a quiet week in which only two benchmark deals took place — including a debut euro benchmark from Finland's Municipality Finance — the sovereign, supranational and agency market is eagerly awaiting a deal from the European Stability Mechanism.

Municipality Finance is aiming to bring a debut green bond after the summer, with euros a possible currency for the bond.

KommuneKredit has printed a no-grow €1bn seven year from an oversubscribed book, becoming the second Nordic agency to do a euro benchmark deal this week.

Three euro benchmarks surfaced on Wednesday including the first from Axa in four years, the first euro benchmark from BRFkredit and a dual tranche deal from Crédit Agricole which, by virtue of its €3.25bn size, is the most notable deal of the year so far. Despite these successes, traders fear the spread tightening run may be close to its end.

Despite the limited supply in the SSA market this week, with issuers avoiding issuing close to this week’s US Federal Open Market Committee meeting and the approaching Easter holidays, there was still room for a clash of issuers on Monday as one borrower felt compelled to slam the anchors on its proposed benchmark.

Kommuninvest was able to price $600m of March 2019 paper at the tight end of initial price thoughts on Tuesday, making it the largest ever green bond from a Nordic issuer.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan fully exited its stake in ISS, the Danish cleaning firm, through a Dkr2.74bn ($408m) block trade on Monday night, which a lead banker said had attracted strong demand.

KommuneKredit is set to print a seven year euro deal on Wednesday, following a debut euro benchmark from Municipality Finance in the form of a €1bn October 2021 on Tuesday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Fredrik Reinfeldt, the former prime minister of Sweden, as senior advisor to its EMEA business.

Humana, the Swedish care provider, had by Monday morning obtained a covered book for its initial public offering, which could total up to Skr832m ($100m).

A Swedish agency is set to make its long awaited debut in the green bond market on March 15.