SEB

MTN issuance out of Asia and Sweden provided some of the week’s bright spots in what was otherwise a quiet start to the year. With the public market now in full swing, bankers expect the private placement market to get up to speed in the coming weeks.

Huhtamaki, the Finnish food packaging company, has refinanced a €400m facility, with the borrower becoming the latest to add sustainability metrics to its main bank line as an EU ban on single-use plastics comes into force.

Europe’s investment grade corporate bond market continued its blazing start to the year on a busy Tuesday with trades coming flat to or through secondary curves, and syndicate bankers say the blistering momentum is set to last throughout January.

Shares in Nordnet rose in the aftermarket after the digital bank began trading on Nasdaq Stockholm on Wednesday, following its Skr9bn (€885m) IPO.

The IPO of Nordnet, the Swedish digital bank and investment management platform, is due to be priced at Skr96, the midpoint of the initial range, when bookbuilding ends on Monday.

Sweden’s EQT, the private equity company, has followed up on its summer signing of the biggest ever ESG-linked subscription facility with a second deal of the same maximum size. Lenders say this is further proof that ESG is becoming more important to private equity.

Citycon Group, the Nordic shopping centre company, has signed €500m of revolving credit facilities. It wants to shore up its balance sheet as it teeters on the edge of a junk rating.

The Kingdom of Sweden will come to market on Wednesday for a new 25 year Swedish krona benchmark, coming on the heels of a green bond from the City of Gothenburg.

Supply in the SSA dollar market is clustered at the short end of the curve, as borrowers focus on defensive tenors ahead of the upcoming US election. Kommuninvest landed a sizeable benchmark on Tuesday, while Kommunalbanken will follow suit on Wednesday.

BNP Paribas made use of a conducive backdrop this week to build a strong orderbook for a new green non-preferred senior deal.

By offering a hefty pick-up over national champions, Bluestep Bank, a Swedish non-standard mortgage lender, attracted a hefty order book for the second deal from its newly established covered bond platform this week.

Europe’s high grade primary market chugged on with a handful of trades on Wednesday, but syndicate bankers acknowledge that supply looks to be muted in what should usually be a hectic period.