Pre-migration untagged articles

Finnish power company Fingrid sold a series of MTNs this week in Norwegian krone and euros — the first notes it has issued in this market since April 2007. The issuer sent out a request for proposals for five to 10 year private placements totalling around Eu100m.

Liquidity in the CDS market is back to the levels it was at in the months before the Lehman Brothers collapse, according to Fitch Solutions. But the rating agency also identified two major structural shifts in the market that distinguish current levels of liquidity from those in April 2008.

Investors in the European commercial paper market bought high levels of sterling deals this week. Irish banks also had a busy week while demand for corporates remained strong across the market.

Corealcredit priced a Eu500m four year mortgage Pfandbrief on Wednesday that marks the issuer’s first public offering in the capital markets in five years.

The European Central Bank appears to have redoubled its support for new covered bond issues in October, with a monthly report on its Eu60bn programme published yesterday (Thursday) suggesting that its share of primary market issuance has risen from 5.5% to 12%.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) this week launched a dual tranche Skr2.25bn ($317.5m) six year "climate awareness bond", the proceeds of which will be used solely for climate protection projects.

Bankinter and Caja Madrid priced five year cédulas hipotecarias benchmarks this week that market participants hope will provide relief from recent Spanish covered bonds that have performed poorly in the secondary market.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier this week sold a Eu1.5bn long two year deal, the shortest dated and tightest benchmark covered bond to be priced this year, while other French issuers found demand for taps of long dated issues.

Swiss private bank Vontobel has raided its competitors for three senior bankers at a time when small and medium-sized UK brokers are fighting to retain their best staff.

Callable zeros have returned to prominence in the last two weeks as their yields once again reached levels attractive to Taiwanese investors. Rentenbank, Kommunalbanken, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), KfW, the Asian Development Bank and SEK all completed deals. (see table)

Dealers of private EMTNs: Non-syndicated deals for less than $250m excluding financial repackaged SPVs, GSE issuers, self-led deals and issues with a term of less than 365 days.

Royal Bank of Canada became the first Canadian bank to sell a Canadian dollar denominated covered bond when it priced a C$750m (Eu474m) five year issue last Thursday (October 29).