Norway

In brief: Sparebanken Vest is set to join the Norwegian covered bond market, having set up Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt AS. The bank has said that it plans to launch its first issue this year.

Deutsche Bank may have come first in the all benchmarks ranking for the first half of 2008, but it was by no means the strongest across all markets. Here The Cover reveals the top banks in each of the biggest sectors and examines where the leading banks’ weaknesses lie.

Norway’s Storebrand Kredittforetak priced its debut euro issue yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, a Eu500m two year issue. The deal attracted strong demand from Scandinavian accounts.

Norway’s Storebrand opened books on its non-benchmark euro debut this (Wednesday) morning, with the deal expected to price at the upper end of its size range this afternoon.

Glitnir Bank ASA, the Norwegian arm of the Icelandic-headquartered banking group, has met all its refinancing needs for the year through the sale of Nkr7bn (Eu890m) of covered bonds by BN Boligkreditt.

Norway’s DnB Nor Boligkreditt priced its new Eu2bn three year covered bond at 15bp over mid-swaps yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon. The issuer announced that it was pleased with the final size and to have continued building its curve.

Norway’s DnB Nor Boligkreditt opened books this morning on a new three year euro benchmark with pricing fixed at 15bp over mid-swaps, after shadow bookbuilding yesterday afternoon at a slightly tighter level.

In brief: DnB Nor Boligkreditt is expected to be the next issuer into the market and is already building a shadow order book, with launch understood to be imminent.

Norway’s two benchmark covered bond issuers, DnB Nor Boligkreditt and Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt, were on tour in Germany last week doing their best to attract investors’ attention, only to go on to stress their low profile in the market. One of the central messages of the presentations and the dual roadshow, hosted by UniCredit, was to highlight the exclusivity and the high quality of Norwegian jumbos.

Norway’s Storebrand executed its first covered bond issue in its domestic krone market on Friday, selling a Nkr2bn two tranche issue through DnB Nor Markets. The issuer has recently been on the road ahead of its non-jumbo euro debut.

The disarray in the primary market this week has not deterred issuers old and new from pushing on with their covered bond plans. DnB Nor has picked leads for a new benchmark and Banco BPI has announced the arrangers of its programme and scheduled a roadshow.