Nordics

Skandiabanken, the Norwegian online bank, narrowed the price range of its initial public offering on Tuesday, having achieved investor coverage at that level.

The European Investment Bank has agreed to provide a loan of up to €200m to Avinor, the Norwegian airport operator.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) issued a €1bn seven year Swedish covered bond on Monday and attracted enough interest to tighten pricing, something that few issuers were able to do recently. However, even with double the concession DNB paid, the Swedish borrower attracted much less demand than the Norwegian one. SEB’s curve has been marked 2-3bp wider following the deal.

Covered bonds worth almost €7bn were issued this week but, by virtue of its size, oversubscription ratio and breadth of demand, Nationwide Building Society’s €1bn deal stood out.

A senior FIG syndicate banker has quit BNP Paribas to move to Danske Bank in Copenhagen.

Islandsbanki mandated leads for a euro bond roadshow on Thursday, as Iceland's banks return to the public debt market.

The Norwegian covered bond borrower issued its second deal of the year on Wednesday. Though the final spread was on the generous side, and the book only just covered, the overall cost of funding was less than half what it paid in March.

Swedbank returned to the sterling covered bond market to issue its second sterling deal this year. Though the issuer paid a minimal concession, the spread was almost double what it paid in August and the order book almost half.

Finland’s Municipality Finance has edged nearer to its funding goal for the year with a pair of Norwegian krone bonds, its first prints in the currency since early 2014.

Aktia Bank launched and priced its first ever Swedish krone bond on Monday, in a deal that could trigger more issuance in the currency as borrowers hunt for investor diversity.

A European agency is set to bring a green bond on Tuesday as optimism grows that SRI volumes could pick up even more over the next two months.

Aktia Bank has agreed to buy the remainder of its subsidiary, Aktia Real Estate Mortgage Bank (Aktia REMB), by 2017. As a result Finland’s savings banks will refinance their own mortgages by establishing a new covered bond issuing institution, expected to be called SP Mortgage Bank, which will start issuing from next year.