Nordics

Following what a banker on Wednesday's euro bond called the ‘richest syndication of all time’, the Republic of Finland is looking at a possible return to the dollar market.

Finnish nuclear power company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) got a warm reception from the investors on Wednesday, when it sold €550m of senior unsecured notes after a 20bp tightening from initial price thoughts.

Demand for the Republic of Finland’s latest bond was high on Wednesday as it printed through the ECB deposit rate to sell “the most expensive syndication of all time”, according to a banker on the deal. The five year note came 29.9bp richer than Austria’s previous record holding deal, another five year note sold in June.

A flight to safety is underway leaving little support for the riskier bits of leveraged finance. A Finnish nuclear power company is, however, marketing a deal in the high yield bond market and one investor told GlobalCapital he expects to see others follow suit rather than tap the loan market.

Kommunalbanken brought its green bond framework to the Swedish krona market for the first time last week to place its seventh green note, its first since August 2018. The move into the currency follows a wider trend of major SSA issuers funding in niche currencies as raising debt in core markets becomes harder, according to bankers.

HSBC France and Svenska Handelsbanken avoided issuing senior bonds at negative yields in a busy new issue market on Tuesday, but bankers said it was only a 'matter of time' before someone takes the plunge below 0% with an unsecured deal.

Nykredit Realkredit was one of the smallest banks looking to get funding away in a busy euro market on Tuesday, but it was able to command the attention of investors without needing to offer a higher spread.

Guarantor: All Danish municipalities and regions

KfW brought its revamped green framework to the Norwegian krone market to print a deal on Tuesday. Later that week, strong demand from domestic and international investors let the issuer increase the note to a record breaking size, printing the largest Nokkie green bond across any asset class.

KommuneKredit failed to set the market alight with the first euro syndicated public sector bond since mid-July, excluding deals from German Laender. The Danish agency only managed to sell €500m for the 11 year benchmark and was unable to tighten the spread during pricing.

Danish agency KommuneKredit mandated banks on Monday for its first euro-denominated bond of the year and the first euro syndicated public sector bond since mid-July, excluding German regions.

Medicover is on the hunt for at least €100m of funding in the Schuldschein market. The Swedish healthcare company joins a growing number of Nordic borrowers looking to tap the German loans market.