Norway

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.

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.