Nordics

HVB, the German subsidiary of UniCredit, on Tuesday attracted one of the highest orders books for a €1bn covered bond from a core European bank in the last six months. It was able to tighten the pricing gap by 4bp to a competing deal issued by OP Mortgage Bank.

Shares in Danish renewable energy firm Ørsted and in Salini Impregilo, the Italian construction company, continued to trade well this week, generating strong returns for block investors.

SEAS-NVE has sold around a quarter of its stake in Ørsted, the Danish renewable energy company that was privatised in 2016, raising Dkr5.33bn (€741m).

A pair of public sector borrowers hit the dollar market this week, pulling off strong deals at three and five years. Both enjoyed a clear field as euro-based borrowers stuck to their home currency thanks to an unpalatable basis swap rate.

Investors staged a protest over pricing in the non-preferred senior bond market this week, causing one transaction to fail and putting two others at risk of falling flat. Comfortable with their returns for 2019 and happy to be able to choose from a glut of new bond offerings, funds have simply been happy to divert their attention elsewhere. Tyler Davies reports.

BBVA and DNB Bank were both looking to build towards their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in the euro market on Thursday, eschewing non-preferred senior issuance in favour of the cheaper preferred senior format.

The Swedish Export Credit Corp printed a $1.25bn three year global benchmark bond on Wednesday, tightening the spread to land flat to its curve and aided by a favourable move in swap spreads.

Norwegian Air Shuttle, the budget airline, has gone back to shareholders for fresh capital for the second time this year, to fund itself into 2020 and beyond, while it tries to shift from a period of aggressive growth to a focus on profitability.

Danske Bank has made its second visit of the year to the euro tier two market, paying a much tighter spread for a deal that was otherwise identical to its earlier transaction. The Danish issuer has been subject to higher capital requirements in 2019, amid the fallout from a series of high profile money laundering investigations.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their funding programmes at the start of November. Some of the issuers have also set their funding targets for 2020.

The Swedish krona MTN market’s bumper year received a further boost as nuclear power plant operator Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) returned to the MTN market for the first time in five years to place a pair of notes in the currency. However, the return may be short lived, as TVO has plenty of access to cash and will take an opportunistic approach to future issuance.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) took advantage of positive swap yields to issue a well-subscribed €1bn 10 year this week. Danmarks Skibskredit and mBank are likely to follow soon, having each mandated lead managers for covered bond roadshows.