Sweden

Swedish credit management company Intrum and UK-based gambling giant International Game Technology dipped into the favourable markets again with big €750m and €500m issues .

The Swedish National Debt Office, the Riksgalden, has said that it is assessing whether to issue 100 year bonds as it looks to take advantage of ultra low rates. However, the demand for such products has deteriorated in recent weeks as the seismic rally in government bonds continues to suppress yields, according to public sector debt capital bankers.

Westpac placed just under HK$13.4bn into the Hong Kong market across two MTNs last week — the pair of bonds are its largest ever in the currency, according to Dealogic. The notes came in a busy week for niche issuance, and bankers have posited that this move into the peripheral markets comes as a response to the global fall in yields.

The European IPO market has been reopened with the listings of TeamViewer, the German remote access software provider, and Swedish private equity house EQT. However, with investors continuing to position more defensively bankers expect valuation pressure to remain.

Swedish private equity firm EQT confirmed on Monday that it is seeking to list on the Nasdaq Stockholm, becoming the second issuer to announce it aims to test Europe’s IPO market this autumn.

Issuance is starting to resume after the summer break; however, this week a booming public market drew away investor and issuer attention from MTNs. Despite this, a range of established SSA, FIG and corporate borrowers have slipped in, with deals across core, niche and EM currencies.

After two huge days of corporate bond issuance, Thursday was much quieter, with issues only from Vier Gas Transport and SBB Norden — not because the market was worse, but just because most of the issuers that wanted to come this week had crowded into the first two days.

Swedish private equity firm EQT is likely to bring its IPO to market before the end of the year, joining a host of high quality European listings.

HSBC France and Svenska Handelsbanken avoided issuing senior bonds at negative yields in a busy new issue market on Tuesday, but bankers said it was only a 'matter of time' before someone takes the plunge below 0% with an unsecured deal.

Medicover is on the hunt for at least €100m of funding in the Schuldschein market. The Swedish healthcare company joins a growing number of Nordic borrowers looking to tap the German loans market.

Sweden broke new ground on Wednesday by selling a new 10 year bond with a negative yield for the first time. Investors are pouring into haven assets amid mounting concerns over both the domestic and global economies.

Participants in the financial institutions bond market had expected that issuers could hit screens with new transactions as early as this week, but so far macroeconomic and political uncertainty has discouraged them from putting investor appetite to the test this summer.