Norway

The response to some of this week’s dollar deals has got some bankers believing that next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting might not prove to be the market shutting millstone that it had promised to be just a few weeks ago.

Kommunalbanken on Thursday sold its largest floating rate note ever — and the largest floater from an SSA since early March — as bankers away from the trade said the “stars aligned” for the issuer.

Shares in B2 Holding, the Norwegian consumer debt collection company, have held steady after it concluded its Nkr650m ($80m) IPO in Oslo to fuel growth in its existing markets.

A pair of public sector borrowers are lining up to sell dollar floating rate notes on Thursday, following a series of floating and fixed rate deals in the currency on Wednesday.

Norwegian debt collector B2Holding has narrowed the price range for its IPO to between Nkr11.50 and Nkr12 a share.

An auction this month to settle credit default swaps referencing Norske Skog will produce wildly divergent recoveries for investors at different maturities, terms published by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) have confirmed.

After a slow start to the week, a torrent of covered bonds was priced on Wednesday and Thursday, as issuers sought to move quickly in case the market succumbs to one of many potential political risks it faces this month.

Siem Industries, a Cayman Islands-based holding company with diverse interests, issued on Thursday its third exchangeable bond into shares of Subsea 7, the underwater construction company listed in Oslo.

An auction to settle Norske Skog credit default swaps will take place in June, after ISDA’s determinations ommittee agreed to an initial list of deliverables for the restructuring credit event — despite not having been able to gain access to a crucial document governing the terms of the firm’s guaranteed bonds.

Norwegian issuer SR Boligkreditt and New Zealand borrower Westpac NZ will both take new euro deals on the road before the end of May, and the UK’s TSB has confirmed covered bonds will form part of its long term funding.

Plans to settle Norske Skog credit default swaps by auction were still at an impasse on Thursday, after ISDA’s EMEA Determinations Committee was unable to find crucial paperwork despite meeting three times this week.

A credit event auction to settle Norske Skog credit default swaps is being delayed because ISDA’s EMEA Determinations Committee has been unable to source an intercreditor agreement.