Norway

Santander Consumer Bank AS sold its first ever five year senior bond in the euro market on Monday, raising €500m of new funding with five times as much in orders in tow.

Hurtigruten, the Norwegian cruise operator owned by TDR Capital, has agreed on final pricing on a €660m leveraged loan facility, raising enough debt to repay all its high yield bonds.

Kommunalbanken has announced a dollar floater trade to launch on Tuesday, just ahead of the Federal Open Markets Committee’s rate decision on Wednesday.

Norway's SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt this week issued the first covered bond secured solely on energy-efficient green residential homes. The transaction not only provides a solid template for other Norwegian borrowers, but may well lay the groundwork for covered bond and RMBS issuers throughout Europe.

Sterling issuance was thin this week relative to its scorching start to the year although there was still room for Kommunalbanken to print its largest ever deal in the currency. Strong supply is on the way from the UK Debt Management Office but while demand is as good as some bankers have ever seen, other deals may be limited by technical factors.

Kommunalbanken added to a stellar start to the year for sterling with a £350m trade — its largest ever trade in the currency. Cross currency basis swap levels meant the borrower capped the size of its deal despite building a nearly £550m book, according to leads — suggesting excess demand for other SSAs to tap this week.

Norway's SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt has issued the first covered bond secured solely on energy-efficient green homes. The €1bn transaction was priced almost flat to fair value and placed with a newly diversified group of investors.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt has mandated lead managers for a roadshow to market its first green covered bond. The move coincided with proposals from lawmakers in Luxembourg for a green covered bond framework.

DNB Boligkreditt and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce this week issued the first five year covered bonds of the year and found strong demand, even though there was a sensitivity around the final spread.

DNB Boligkreditt differentiated itself in a crowded covered bond market on Tuesday by issuing the first five year deal of 2018, a strategy that paid off, given it was also the largest deal of the year.

Issuers printed a slew of benchmarks in dollars, euros and sterling last week as the SSA market roared into action. Read on to see whether the first deals of the year won favour with our voters.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt has mandated lead managers for a roadshow to market it first green covered bond. The news comes amid German press articles suggesting lawmakers in Luxembourg are set to propose a green covered bond framework. BayernLB is also lining up a vanilla 10 year Pfandbrief for execution on Monday.