Nordics

Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt opened books on the first covered bond of the week on Wednesday and managed to issue its largest ever deal with no new issue concession.

All three public sector borrowers in the euro market on Tuesday received record order books, despite the spreads tightening by up to 5bp during pricing — which left little to no concessions for investors.

Finland and Madrid hit screens on Monday to capitalise on the red hot appetite for euro sovereign supply in the 10 year part of the curve.

Conditions for public sector dollar issuers held firm this week after an excellent start to the year, although deals were thinner on the ground thanks to a US Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Chinese New Year holidays next week will give the sector a much needed breather — after which three-years might move more into vogue than fives, said SSA bankers.

Rating: Aaa/AAA

Covered bond investors could not get enough of Swedish seven year deals issued this week by Swedbank and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken. But whether record order books are being inflated remains a moot point.

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken followed Swedbank with a seven year deal, printing a well oversubscribed €1.25bn covered bond on Thursday flat to its curve. The deal comes as Citi research suggested excess demand for covered bonds issued this month is at a record level.

Artificial Solutions, the Swedish software company that developed conversational artificial intelligence, may sell new shares on the main Swedish market to finance its growth, once it has obtained a listing on Nasdaq First North, according to its CEO.

The covered bond market looked well supported on Wednesday as Sparebank Soer Boligkreditt issued the most highly oversubscribed deal of the year, which was priced flat to its curve. With all new issues tightening bankers are hopeful that Italian and Greek supply could soon follow.

Kommunalbanken took advantage of being the sole SSA issuer in dollars on Tuesday as it was more than twice subscribed and tightened pricing on its first dollar benchmark of the year. Concerns over volatility from this week’s US Federal Open Market Committee meeting and non-farm payrolls kept some other issuers on the sidelines, said SSA bankers — although two are braving Wednesday’s market.

Shares in Norwegian Air Shuttle, the Norwegian budget airline, fell 25% on Tuesday after the company announced an Nkr3bn (€308m) rights offer to avoid breaking its financial covenants following widening losses and an abandoned takeover attempt by IAG.

Sparebank Soer Boligkreditt has mandated leads for a covered bond and taken advantage of demand identified in the previous three Norwegian deals issued so far this year.