Sweden

The sterling covered bond market enjoyed a strong start to the year, with four issuers raising a collective £3.7bn. Barclays priced the first deal of the year, which also happened to be one of the longest and largest.

The dollar market has been thoroughly supportive of this week’s SSA borrowers, but none more so than Sweden, which pulled in its biggest order book ever for its first deal of 2018.

The dollar market is poised to get off to a flying start to the year in the Nordic region, which hosts all three of this week's scheduled dollar borrowers.

Sweden’s finance ministry is expected to receive in early January the report of a special commission it set up a year ago to consider how to promote green bonds, including the merits of the Swedish government issuing one.

Kommuninvest will have a larger funding need next year than in 2017, as the Swedish agency revised down its expected funding for this year.

Euro high yield bond buyers caught sight of a rare two digit coupon this week. Perstorp, the Swedish speciality chemicals group, priced its subordinated note with a 10% coupon.

Skanska, the Swedish construction and property development company that is a leader in green building, has signed a €200m green revolving facility with four of its relationship banks.

Sweden has set up a Sustainable Finance Centre, as a partnership between the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Stockholm School of Economics. One of the first projects it is considering taking on is helping the International Finance Corp stimulate green bond issuance among emerging market banks.

Swedish speciality chemicals firm Perstorp is lining up the European high yield market’s first December deal, with a €485m two tranche bond that is expected to be priced next week.

Stadshypotek returned to the covered bond market for the third time this year to issue its second seven year at the tightest ever spread to mid-swaps. But the fact leads took so long to decide on the deal size hinted that execution had not gone smoothly.

Subordinated bonds from financial issuers have been back in favour in the Swedish krona market this year, with investors seeking out higher yields compared with other types of credit.

Is demand in Europe’s leveraged finance market so strong that a single-B rated borrower could raise €3.5bn of high yield bonds and loans, and use some of the cash to fund the largest dividend recapitalisation of the year? Verisure began marketing such deal this week, and many investors appear to like it.