SEB

Sweden became the latest European sovereign to access the ultra-long end of the curve this week as it launched its first 50 year bond, opening up the long end of the krona curve for other highly rated names.

The two riskiest issuers in Europe’s corporate bond market on Wednesday both opted for size over pushing hard on pricing. Poste Italiane with its hybrid capital issue and crossover-rated Finnish nuclear power company Teollisuuden Voima priced bigger than expected deals.

The African Development Bank sold its first kangaroo bond in social format on Tuesday as supply of ESG-labelled bonds in niche currencies by public sector borrowers gathers pace.

Swedish Covered Bond Corporation’s (SCBC) benchmark eight year deal, syndicated on Monday, was slow to build and, even though the final spread looked fine, the process clearly showed that investors are reticent to buy deals at prevailing levels.

Mondi, a UK packaging and paper company, has signed a €750m revolving sustainability-linked facility, days after completing an acquisition of a Turkish packaging firm.

Dometic Group, the Swedish maker of appliances for boats and camper vans, has successfully completed a Skr3.35bn (€331m) M&A financing.

AstraZeneca, the UK drug maker, hit the euro market on Wednesday after printing $7bn across the Atlantic a day earlier. The borrower is building up funds to pay for its $39bn acquisition of US rival Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

Sinch, the Swedish cloud-based communications services company, has raised Skr9.4bn (€926m) to fund M&A opportunities following an overnight share sale anchored by major investors.

Ryanair, the Irish budget airline, landed a far more solid bond issue on Tuesday than shopping centre operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield had a day earlier, as both companies try to recover in sectors ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

Landshypotek Bank sold a trio of covered bonds in the MTN market this week, including its largest single tranche deal since April last year.

EQT achieved a strong response from investors on Friday when it launched the first sustainability-linked bond from a private equity firm, and only the second from a financial company. The €500m deal is tied to greenhouse gas emission cuts and gender diversity metrics.

Vestas, the Danish wind turbine maker, has signed a €2bn-equivalent facility linked to key performance indicators around sustainability. It was the first time the borrower has structured bank debt in this way.