Norway

Equity capital markets bankers are eyeing with interest the possibility that Norway’s $1tr sovereign wealth fund might sell all its holdings in oil and gas stocks, potentially creating opportunities for block trades or other structured transactions.

Norwegian energy company Statoil agreed to pay $4m to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday, over allegations that the company attempted to manipulate an index to benefit its propane swap positions.

DNB Boligkreditt enjoyed great execution for its €1.5bn seven year covered bond on Thursday, but real money accounts switched out of more expensive deals in good size for the first time in months, suggesting investors have far less inclination to add to positions at prevailing spread levels than was previously the case.

Komplett Bank, the Norwegian consumer lender, priced a Nkr896m sale of shares on Oslo Bors at the top of the initial range, bucking the trend of many recent flotations.

Crayon Group, the Norwegian software management company, had to fight for investors' attention to get its Nkr650m IPO sold, its CEO Torgrim Takle said on Thursday.

Oslo-listed oil and gas exploration firm Aker BP raised Nkr4.1bn ($500m) through an accelerated bookbuild, to fund its acquisition of Hess Norge, the owner of two Norwegian oil fields.

Norwegian financial institution Komplett Bank is looking to place up to Nkr1.03bn ($126.58m) in an initial public offering (IPO), combining primary and secondary placements on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE).

Sparkasse Hannover has joined Wüstenrot Bausparkasse in the euro covered bond pipeline. Both issuers are likely to get strong executions for their sub-benchmark Pfandbriefe which may no longer need to offer a premium relative to benchmark deals. At the same time, Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt has mandated leads to market its first covered bond in sterling.

Nordea announced on Wednesday that it would become a systematic internaliser for FX and interest rate derivatives and cash bonds under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II.

Norwegian state-owned grid operator Statnett priced its debut benchmark euro corporate bond on Wednesday, opting to go longer than the 10 year tenor many of the recent utility issuers chose.

Norwegian state owned grid operator, Statnett, priced its debut benchmark euro corporate bond on Wednesday, continuing the recent supply of utility issuers selling longer dated new issues.

Finnish property company, Mercada, was a lone issuer in the corporate bond market on Monday. Its €175m five year deal q was printed while issuers that completed roadshows last week paused.