Nordics

Scandinavian Tobacco, the cigar and pipe tobacco maker, rose 2% when it made its stock market debut on Wednesday, before returning to the level at which its IPO was priced.

Sanoma, the Finland headquartered media and publishing company, has retained support from its relationship banks in a €500m refinancing deal. But two banks did not return, as the group sought to slim down its syndicate.

Swedbank and SEB this week launched deals that attracted the largest order books and the widest distribution of any covered bonds issued this year, along with the smallest concessions.

Kommunalbanken on Wednesday sold the first five year dollar benchmark from an SSA in three weeks, printing a $1bn no-grow bond.

Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO), the Finnish nuclear power company, has refinanced its €1.3bn debt facility with a reduced syndicate.

Stockholm County Council has selected four banks for a green bond roadshow, beginning on February 8, with a view to selling a euro green bond.

Swedbank was set to issue a €1.25bn five year covered bond on Wednesday. The deal attracted more investors than any other covered bond this year, and a larger volume of orders. The new issue concession was small, but the deal’s success was driven by a yield nearly 0.5% more than OBLs

Cigar and pipe tobacco manufacturer Scandinavian Tobacco has received enough demand from investors to get its Copenhagen IPO done, but it is not yet covered throughout the price range.

Danske Bank launched its largest ever share buyback on Tuesday, having exceeded its regulatory capital requirements by more than expected.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) funded itself more cheaply with a 15 year covered bond than it did with a five year this week. It followed Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC) which issued at the same spread as earlier deals despite a market widening.

Cigar and pipe tobacco manufacturer Scandinavian Tobacco has set the price range for its all-secondary IPO at a “very considerable discount” to comparables, according to a banker on the deal.

Two covered bond issuers from Sweden and Germany launched euro benchmarks on Tuesday. Both transactions were healthily oversubscribed, but with a wider starting spread, Swedish Covered Bond Corporation (SCBC) was able to issue a much larger volume, and tighten pricing during the bookbuild.