Norway

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.

Borr Drilling, a Bermuda-registered, Oslo-headquartered offshore oil drilling company, has raised $650m with a 51% capital increase that was placed in an accelerated way on Friday evening.

On Monday, Statnett, the Norwegian state electricity grid company, mandated banks for its debut benchmark bond issue in euros. This followed German power utility RWE announcing the results of its recent tender offer on Friday.

Norsk Hydro completed its buyout of fellow Norwegian aluminium producer Sapa, valued at Nkr27bn ($3.38bn) on Monday, drawing in part on its existing five year revolving credit facility.

The debt restructuring saga at Norwegian paper company Norske Skog took a sharp turn this week wherein a breakthrough with senior investors was quickly waylaid by a group, claiming to represent more than half of the company’s unsecured creditors, rejecting the latest proposal.

The subscription ratio of a seven year covered bond issued by SR Boligkreditt this week was higher than any Norwegian deal issued in at least six years.

The strength of the demand for equity block trades in Europe was highlighted once again on Wednesday evening by Telenor when it covered an effective cleanup trade in Veon, the New York-listed Russian telecoms company formerly known as VimpleCom, in half an hour.

Steven Jensen is leaving his loan syndication sales position at Nordic bank SEB in London to join Norwegian bank DNB.