Norway
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Investors have begun to push back against ever tighter levels in the public sector dollar market, with a deeply sub-Libor trade this week failing to find full subscription. But there was not much concern ahead of next week’s Easter holidays, with some strong funding already raised in the first quarter and the new Federal Reserve chair’s first Federal Open Market Committee meeting passing this week without any great surprises. -
A sharp move wider in short end swap spreads has allowed public sector borrowers to offer substantial pick-ups to US Treasuries at deeply sub-Libor levels, but investors are beginning to rebel.
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The Nordic Investment Bank has announced that it will become the second borrower of the week to access the two year dollar market. The first, Kommunalbanken, scooped up $1.25bn on Tuesday.
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Kommunalbanken announced a two year dollar benchmark on Monday, coming on the heels of a strong week for dollar issuance.
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The IPO of Elkem, the Norwegian silicon producer and supplier being floated by ChemChina, priced on Wednesday at Nkr29 ($6.74) a share, the bottom of the expected range.
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Elkem, the Norwegian silicon producer and supplier being floated by ChemChina, has had a good start to bookbuilding after launching its Nkr7.7bn (€805m) flotation on the Oslo Børs on Monday.
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If the Norwegian bond market’s light touch approach to documentation means investors lose out, the Nordic aspiration to become the venue of choice for Northern Europe's high yield issuers may never materialise.
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Six of the nine investment grade corporate new issues in the last week of February were announced with a three letter acronym that, while providing clarity, served to frustrate investors keen to see greater volumes of issuance. WNG stands for “will not grow” and this week told investors that the meagre sized deals would not be increased, irrespective of demand.
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Five new investment grade corporate bond deals were priced on Tuesday and, while pricing was competitive, none of the issuers allowed for any growth in the size of the deals as all five used a no-grow strategy.
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The spike in volatility and soggy performance of recent IPOs did not deter a fresh wave of companies across Europe from bringing new stock market listings this week.
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Norsk Hydro has made a binding offer to buy Rio Tinto’s remaining European aluminium business, as the spurt of M&A activity shows little sign of slowing.
