Sweden

Artificial Solutions, the Swedish software company that developed conversational artificial intelligence, may sell new shares on the main Swedish market to finance its growth, once it has obtained a listing on Nasdaq First North, according to its CEO.

After a string of very successful 10 year covered bond trades, it was clear that seven and five year deals would “fly like hell,” said a syndicate manager on one of the deals issued on Tuesday by Swedbank and Aareal Bank.

Fearful of missing out and in the absence of competing credit supply, investors piled into higher yielding covered bonds offered by Canadian, Australian and Swedish issuers this week. A negative new issue premium Royal Bank of Canada’s five year epitomised the state of investor frenzy.

SCBC chose to issue its first green covered bond in its home currency this week, saving itself a few basis points compared with euros — where a green covered bond is now considered 'feasible'.

Fearful of missing out and, in the absence of competing credit supply, investors piled into six covered bonds on Tuesday with a combined value of more than €6bn.Royal Bank of Canada’s deal epitomised the state of investor frenzy as it was able to issue the largest deal of the year with a negative new issue premium.

Leveraged finance markets in Europe are looking up, and bankers expect they may even see some deals priced before long.

Dollar SSA issuance picked up in earnest this week after a slower than usual start to the year, with a rich variety of borrowers printing deals, some in record size or with record books. Conditions are such that SSA bankers are confident supply will keep coming and demand stay high for the next few weeks — cheering news for one sovereign issuer looking to make a comeback in the currency.

Guarantor: Swedish local government members

Public sector borrowers printed over $10bn of bonds on Tuesday in a dollar market that SSA bankers expect to keep its momentum in the weeks ahead.

SEB has selected a new head of equity capital markets following Artem Kosenko’s move across to debt capital markets.

CPPIB Capital was comfortably oversubscribed for its $2bn trade on Monday with the dollar SSA market remaining attractive at the short end. Agence Francaise de Developpement, KfW and Kommuninvest will look to tap into lucrative conditions in the currency after mandating banks for deals on Tuesday.

Swedish markets regulator Finansinspektionen (FI) on Wednesday called for lawmaker-backed resolution plans for clearing houses, in the wake of a default at Nasdaq clearing last September.