Nordics

Swedbank bucked a trend of issuers turning to covered bonds for funding on Thursday when it launched a five year fixed rate senior deal.

Scandic Hotels, the Nordic hotel operator that started taking orders for its IPO on November 17, has released a covered message to investors, a lead banker said on Wednesday.

Dometic, the Swedish maker of refrigerators and cookers for camper vans, traded up 15.42% on its first day as a public company on Wednesday, a strong aftermarket performance that recalled other Scandinavian IPOs this year.

The Swedish central bank published its second stability report of the year and continues to be concerned over high indebtedness and high house prices, factors which are intrinsically connected to the growth of Sweden’s covered bond market. The report follows recent proposals to tighten repo rules affecting covered bonds, proposals which the Swedish FSA and debt office have said are beyond the remit of the independent central bank.

SKF, the Swedish ball bearing maker, won a €2.2bn order book today (Tuesday) for a €500m no-grow bond, issued to partly fund a tender offer for older notes.

B2 Holding, the Norwegian debt management company, printed on Thursday its debut bond as it refinances its debts to support further acquisitions.

Alandsbanken, the Finnish banking group, has issued its first Swedish krona bond for over a year, drawing huge demand from domestic Swedish investors.

A trio of issuers from Finland and Sweden raised €3.5bn of funding in the covered bond market this week with strong receptions and limited spread concessions.

AP Moeller-Maersk, the Danish shipping conglomerate, this week issued its first benchmark euro bond since issuing a profit warning in October. Investors were price sensitive, but bankers away from the a €600m seven year trade were impressed with the book size for such a challenging story.

Danske Bank’s Finnish branch returned to the covered bond market for the first time since 2012 with a five year benchmark on Thursday. The €1bn deal offered a healthy new issue premium, and leads built a reasonable book, despite competition from cheaper alternatives in the market.

Danske Bank in Finland, formally known as Sampo Housing Loan Bank, has mandated leads for its first covered bond since September 2012. Meanwhile, La Caisse Centrale Desjardins du Quebec (CCDJ) has also mandated.

AP Moeller-Maersk, the Danish shipping conglomerate, has raised its first benchmark euro bond since issuing a profit warning in October, a €600m seven year trade.