Nordics

Three companies piled into the euro bond market on Monday, but the deals drew mixed reactions. Two standard investment grade issues from LafargeHolcim and Ford Motor Credit appeared to fare better than a rare green hybrid from Citycon paying a juicy yield.

Guarantor: Swedish local government members

Demand for ground-breaking covered bonds issued on Wednesday by Deutsche Bank and Danish Ships Finance was adequate but both required hefty premiums — illustrating a higher degree of investor caution than had been expected.

All maturities are open for deals in the euro market, thanks to a widening in benchmark spreads over the past few weeks. SSA issuers are taking advantage of the conditions by issuing in a range of tenors.

Two SSA borrowers have will follow KommuneKredit's lead by issuing green bonds on Wednesday after the Danish agency announced and priced a deal on Tuesday.

Danish Ships Finance, Natixis Pfandbriefbank and Raiffeisen Bank International will keep the primary market busy with deals and roadshows this week. But the main focus will be on the size and spread that Deutsche Bank achieves for its innovative debut structured conditional pass through (CPT) covered bond that will be launched imminently.

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.