Norway

Sparebanken Sør was able to get a ‘good and tight’ print on its first outing in the euro market for senior unsecured debt on Monday.

The Kingdom of Norway’s debut bond syndication, priced on Thursday last week, does not herald the Scandinavian country’s turn to the green bond market, despite widespread hopes on the socially responsible investment (SRI) scene that the country could expand the tiny pool of sovereign green issuers.

The Kingdom of Norway sold its first syndication on Thursday, following a two week global roadshow intended to broaden and internationalise the investor base buying government debt from the Scandinavian country.

Rating: Aaa/AAA

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.

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.

Kommunalbanken announced a two year dollar benchmark on Monday, coming on the heels of a strong week for dollar issuance.

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.

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.

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.

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.