Nordics

Ice Group, the Norwegian telecoms company, hit the road with a Nkr3bn ($351.4m) Oslo Bors IPO on Tuesday, which it hopes will give it the funds to break the country’s telecoms duopoly.

Kommuninvest has expanded its group of market makers for its Swedish benchmark programme, as the agency forecast a lower funding target for next year than 2018.

The final two weeks of bookbuilding for the Skr632m (€61m) listing of Q-linea, the Swedish medical technology company, have begun on a positive note, after the firm announced that it had secured cornerstone interest for over 10% of the transaction.

Guarantor: Swedish local government members

Kommuninvest was the sole dollar benchmark in the public sector market this week, getting in just a day ahead of Thanksgiving to reach its 2018 funding target. Dollar SSA supply is likely to be limited for the rest of the year, but there is room for "opportunistic" trades at the short end, according to bankers.

Kongsberg Gruppen, a Norwegian supplier of technology systems to the offshore oil and gas sector, has finished a Nkr5bn (€513m) rights issue with a healthy level of oversubscription.

Kommuninvest took advantage of the lack of competing SSA supply on Wednesday to price a long three year dollar trade ahead of the US holidays. Meanwhile, Nederlandse Waterschapsbank has appointed banks to arrange investor calls for its annual water bond.

Ice Group, a Norwegian provider of wireless telecommunications, has begun pre-marketing for an IPO on the main board of the Oslo Stock Exchange.

A five year covered bond issued by Danske Bank’s Finnish subsidiary on Thursday was the most oversubscribed triple A rated covered bond issued since late August and suggested that recent negative headline risk had barely affected sentiment in euros.

In an otherwise barren week for block trades, Hansa Medical, the Swedish biotechnology company, raised Skr399.8m of fresh capital to fund product development. The deal also provided an opportunity for Nexttobe AB to sell a portion of its stake in the company.

Liberbank plans to issue its first covered bond, Danske Bank in Finland is set to issue its first deal in three years and UniCredit Austria has announced a roadshow hot on the heels of a Pfandbrief issued by the German subsidiary.

The EMEA equity blocks market enjoyed a second night of momentum of Thursday after the results of the US midterm elections kicked off trading this week, with two large transactions being priced.