Nordics

Garfunkelux, the German debt collection company, on Thursday issued £795m of notes in the first sizeable European high yield issue for three weeks. Market participants are now eager to see if other issuers finally follow in its steps.

Landsbankinn walked away with €300m of three year money on Monday as Icelandic debt made a return to the FIG market.

Covered bonds issued this week by Nordea Finland and DNB Boligkreditt went surprisingly well as, despite being the largest ones on offer, they were the most highly oversubscribed and subsequently posted the best performance.

A second European issuer in as many working days has pulled back from the corporate bond market, blaming challenging market conditions.

Bravida, the Swedish electrical, heating, plumbing and ventilation systems installer, closed the institutional book for its IPO at noon on Thursday, and was doing allocations on Thursday afternoon. Pricing is expected to come on Friday morning.

Finnish telecommunications company DNA has refinanced loan facilities with a €250m credit facility, signed today.

Bravida, the Swedish electrical, heating, plumbing and ventilation systems installer, narrowed the price range of its IPO on Tuesday morning, inside the top half of the original range, meaning the deal is likely to raise at least Skr2.8bn (€305m).

A second European issuer in as many working days has pulled back from the corporate bond market, blaming challenging market conditions.

Nordea Finland returned to the covered bond market on Monday to issue a €1.25bn seven year. In contrast to other recent deals, the transaction attracted solid demand of over €2bn from a wide range of investors and sets the stage for follow-on issuance.

Landsbankinn was set to walk away with €300m of three year money on Monday, but bankers said investor confidence even after a stronger week of trading remains low.

Bravida, the Swedish plumbing, heating and electricals group, this week launched the bookbuilding phase of its initial public offering in Stockholm.

Hellman & Friedman is acquiring a majority stake in the Swedish company Securitas Direct with a €2.7bn financing package involving bonds and loans — but market sentiment remains downhearted.