Norway

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.

Rating: Aaa/AAA

Investors jumped on the opportunity to buy euro bonds with a positive yield in the public sector market this week as KfW and Kommunalbanken sold 15 and 10 year bonds respectively, with the latter returning to the currency for a benchmark for the first time since 2017.

Kommunalbanken was almost twice covered for its 10 year euro trade on Thursday as it returned for its first benchmark in the currency since 2017.

Three covered bond issuers took advantage of a rise in yields, following what seemed a breakthrough in Brexit negotiations, to issue transactions that would not have been well received two weeks ago. Banca Popolare dell’Alto Adige’s debut and Sparkasse Hannover’s sub-benchmark deals delivered positive returns, while demand for a slightly negative-yielding benchmark from Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt was boosted by its green credentials.

SATS, the Norwegian owner and operator of fitness clubs across the Nordic region, has set a price range on its Oslo IPO that values it at over €450m at the top of the range.

The European Systemic Risk Board is concerned that covered bonds could be fuelling financial imbalances — a claim that some analysts find tenuous. They do, however, agree that house prices are overvalued, particularly in some Nordic countries where the ESRB has identified a risk of financial contagion.

Corporate, FIG and SSA issuers placed floating rate notes this week, pegged to Euribor, Sonia and Libor. With so many issuers coming to market, bankers are interested to see which other borrowers 'take advantage of the liquidity'.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt will become the fourth Norwegian bank to issue a green covered bond after mandating leads for a roadshow on Thursday. It follows the first green covered bond by Norway’s SR Boligkreditt and a vanilla deal from Møre Boligkreditt issued this week.

Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt will become the fourth Norwegian bank to issue a green covered bond and has mandated leads for a roadshow following publication of its green and sustainability framework.

Investor demand for Møre Boligkreditt’s five year covered bond issued on Wednesday was well in excess of the deal size — even though the negative yield of minus 0.269% means they are bound to lose money if they hold it to maturity.

SR Boligkreditt attracted robust demand for its first green covered bond on Tuesday, enabling the bonds to be priced with a minimal concession.