Sweden

In a volatile year for European equity capital markets, with issuance down sharply, the Nordic region has been a bright spot, enjoying its second biggest ever year for issuance. Bankers believe that momentum will carry into 2017.

Swedbank became the third non-UK issuer to launch a sterling covered bond since September, when it launched a rare five year on Wednesday. The high number of UK bank sterling redemptions that are unlikely to be refinanced next year suggests sterling investors will be cash rich and receptive to similar supply.

The busy equity block trade action, widely predicted by ECM bankers when the US presidential election produced a bounce in share prices, has continued this week with a string of sales totalling over $1.5bn.

One of the last two substantial European IPOs of 2016 looks set to be completed on Friday, when RussNeft, one of Russia’s 10 largest oil companies, floats in Moscow for at least $495m.

Shares in Dometic Group, the Swedish company that makes fridges and freezers for boats and camper vans, fell 3.6% on Tuesday morning after EQT has sold the last of its shares in the company, through an accelerated bookbuild that was covered in half an hour.

Nordea has appointed its co-head of markets equities Martin Persson head of wholesale banking, effective from Monday

Three corporate issuers pushed deals into a widening primary market on Wednesday with mixed results, as rates volatility kept new issue premiums elevated for borrowers.

The bounce in international equities since the election of Donald Trump as US president was widely expected by market participants to lead to a round of block trades as sellers looked to take advantage of the favourable conditions.

Swedish speciality chemicals group Perstorp priced €1bn-equivalent of high yield bonds on Tuesday, grabbing the attention of investors with triple-C paper against an uncertain backdrop.

Kommuninvest’s senior investor relations manager is expanding his role and will now head the Swedish agency’s sustainability programme.

Cable company Com Hem has been sounding investors since Wednesday for a new issue in Swedish krona to redeem its old Skr2.5bn bonds due 2019, adding Swedish momentum to the Nordic corporate high yield bond market.

Shares in Tobii, the Swedish eye-tracking technology company that floated in April 2015, rose 5% on Monday after it announced plans to raise Skr450m (€45m) in a rights issue, saying the consumer business opportunities open to it had grown faster than it expected.