Nordics

Swedbank

Goldman Sachs sold a Skr2.4bn ($281m) block of B shares in Loomis on Wednesday. The Swedish cash handling firm took a serious hit in trading the next day.

John Fredriksen, the Norwegian shipping magnate, sold a Nkr4.4bn ($510m) block of shares in seafood firm Marine Harvest on Tuesday evening — a rare liquidity event in one of the few Norwegian stocks not exposed to oil.

Swedbank was set to price a three year floating rate note well above par on Thursday, potentially limiting demand but showing the way for other borrowers in a era of negative rates.

Three covered bond issuers launched euro benchmarks on Wednesday with the inaugural transaction from United Overseas Bank of Singapore proving the main attraction. Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt and Belfius Bank also launched deals, with strong demand for the Belgian deal allowing the issuer to pay an extraordinarily tight new issue concession of 1bp.

KfW is set to print a 10 year euro benchmark, following in the footsteps of Belgium and Finland, this week as issuers attempt to conclude funding before the European Central Bank’s meeting on March 10.

Danske issued in a larger size and attracted more orders for its covered bond than Deutsche Bank did for its deal. The outcome was surprising given Deutsche’s rarity and higher quality collateral. But in any case the German issuer did well given that it could have done the deal without any support from the Eurosystem.

The board of Sponda, the Finnish property investment firm, has decided to raise €220.8m in a rights issue to partially repay a bridge loan.

Two European sovereigns mandated for benchmark bonds in euros on Monday leading what is expected to be a scramble to get in and out of the primary market before the European Central Bank meeting on March 10.

3i and BNP Paribas, two of the largest shareholders in Eltel Networks, launched a block trade for 15% of the business on Thursday night.

The Swedish National Debt Office has revised downward its forecast for foreign currency bond issuance in 2016 and 2017 after receiving higher than expected tax payments.

The Swedish National Debt Office has revised downward its forecast for foreign currency bond issuance in 2016 and 2017 after receiving higher than expected tax payments.