SEB

The Kingdom of Norway hit screens on Tuesday with initial pricing thoughts on its yearly syndicated benchmark.

The euro market had no trouble digesting a pair of similar trades from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) and Svenska Handelsbanken this week, with both banks printing non-preferred senior bonds at 58bp and paying a small new issue premium to investors.

The Kingdom of Norway is eyeing the international investor base as it prepares to launch its yearly Norwegian krone bond syndication — a new 10 year benchmark, set to mature in August 2030.

Near-perfect market conditions could lure European banks back into the capital markets quickly this month, even though the sector has just come through its busiest January in close to a decade.

SEB found calm conditions in the euro market this week as it paid a small new issue premium to launch a bail-inable senior bond on the back of its recent results announcement.

Financial institutions did not take long to return to printing new bond deals at tight spreads this week, as investors quickly got over fears about the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.

Elenia, the Finish electricity distribution company, opened books for a €500m no-grow seven-year bond on Thursday, its first issue since Standard & Poor’s upgraded it to BBB+ in November.

The Norwegian krone bond market is about to get a spurt of corporate deals. Liquid chemical storage company Stolt-Nielsen and energy group Eidsiva Energi have mandated banks to lead bond issues in their domestic currency.

Essity, the hygiene and health products company spun off by Sweden's SCA in 2017, slipped into the bond market with a €300m no-grow 10 year issue on Tuesday. The issuer was estimated to have paid a low single digit new issue premium.

Swedish issuer Kommuninvest is preparing to launch its first deal of 2020 — a five year Swedish krona note.

A pair of supranationals have reopened Danish krone green bonds. Domestic interest in SSA paper has grown over the last year, with green issuance a primary driver.

KfW, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and, in the medium-term note (MTN) market, a German region and a Finnish agency have kicked off the Norwegian krone market for SSAs. Bankers are hoping to extend krone’s impressive form from last year into 2020.