Nordics

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.

Finnish agency Municipality Finance has faced a decline in callable MTN issuance this year as investors shun the format and move “more and more towards benchmarks with greater liquidity”, according to funding manager Martin Svedholm.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) refrained from pushing into record territory with the coupon on its new dollar-denominated AT1 on Tuesday, as European banks begin testing new lows for yields in the asset class.

LBBW had enough support from investors to price a new additional tier one (AT1) with hardly any new issue premium on Monday, having been pushed into entering the asset class for the first time as a result of recent changes to the rules on bank capital in Europe.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress European sovereigns have made in their funding programmes as we approach the end of October.

The African Development Bank returned to its inaugural Norwegian krone social bond to increase the trade to Nkr1bn ($109.4m) this week, as it looks to move its social bond framework into other currencies, including dollars.

SATS, the operator of Nordic fitness clubs, priced its IPO on Tuesday at Nkr23.50 a share. Despite the deal trading down, sellers were happy to get the deal done after a flurry of pulled listings this month.