Sweden

Volkswagen surprised the equity capital markets on Friday by setting a range on the IPO of its trucks division, Traton, a few days earlier than most in the market had expected. But the deal has already gained strong investor interest.

Chinese automobile conglomerate Geely has used an exchangeable bond to monetise the volatility of its stake in AB Volvo, the Swedish maker of heavy-duty vehicles, to secure €400m of funding at a zero coupon.

An infrequent Swedish corporate issuer, a Nordic bank, and a German car manufacturer all placed floaters larger than Skr1bn ($106m) in the last week. Swedish krona bonds have been popular with both public and private issuers in recent weeks, as both issuers and investors rush to get business done before the traditional midsummer market closure.

Oberbank sold a senior bond in euros on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of NatWest Markets, Luminor Bank and Svenska Handelsbanken, which on Tuesday also issued senior deals. NatWest attracted the largest order book for its floating rate notes.

Nordic Capital sold its last shares in Resurs Holding, the Swedish retail finance company, on Tuesday night, ending its investment in a firm it took to market in 2016.

The Swedish city of Gothenburg returned to the bond market for its second public deal of the year this week. Swedish krona bonds have proven popular in recent weeks, as both domestic and European issuers have placed deals in the currency.

Ulf Erlandsson, the well known green bond investor, and Knut Kjaer, founding CEO of the $1tr Norwegian oil fund, are exploring starting a new investment strategy called Diem Green Credit.

Covered bond deals issued on Tuesday by the Swedish Covered Bond Corp (SCBC) and UniCredit Bank Austria were priced tightly but the market proved softer than recent sessions and price sensitivity limited the Swedish bank’s size ambitions.

Swedish agency Kommuninvest has mandated three banks to run its forthcoming Swedish krona green bond. The issue will be its seventh green bond, and its fifth in Swedish kronor.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made in their 2019 funding programmes.

Guarantor: Swedish local government members

BPCE and Swedbank attracted good demand for their sizeable 12 and six year covered bonds on Monday. Although the bonds were priced tightly, initial order book momentum was slow. The Swedish issuer did particularly well in the context of money laundering charges.