Nordics

Covered bond deals issued on Tuesday by the Swedish Covered Bond Corp (SCBC) and UniCredit Bank Austria were priced tightly but the market proved softer than recent sessions and price sensitivity limited the Swedish bank’s size ambitions.

Swedish agency Kommuninvest has mandated three banks to run its forthcoming Swedish krona green bond. The issue will be its seventh green bond, and its fifth in Swedish kronor.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2019 funding programmes.

Guarantor: Swedish local government members

The recent redemption of a Norwegian government bond has led to an increase in Nordic currency issuance this week, according to one MTN banker. The European Investment Bank and KfW tapped these released funds to raise a combined Nkr1.5bn ($171.2m).

Marel, the Icelandic meat processing machinery maker, has announced its intention to seek an additional listing on Euronext Amsterdam before the summer, as it aims to tap into growing global demand for meat products.

BPCE and Swedbank attracted good demand for their sizeable 12 and six year covered bonds on Monday. Although the bonds were priced tightly, initial order book momentum was slow. The Swedish issuer did particularly well in the context of money laundering charges.

Insurance companies are finally picking up bond issuance after a first quarter that suffered the lowest issuance volumes since 2017. Finnish firm Sampo was the latest issuer this week.

GN Store Nord, the Danish maker of hearing aids and audio devices, and Orpea, the French care homes operator, both achieved stellar terms on their new convertible bonds (CBs) on Tuesday, highlighting how the scarcity of new paper in the European market has pushed price dynamics in issuers’ favour.

Asset manager Pemberton has opened an office in Denmark to expand its European business.

Sampo Group started to meet investors on Thursday, aiming to print a tier two note. ASR Nederland was the last insurer to raise tier two capital, in a deal that was more than 10 times oversubscribed.

Santander UK, Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) and Erste Group were able to price flat or through their covered bond curves on Tuesday after stoking up hefty demand for their new issues.