Canada

Canadian insurance holding company Fairfax Financial Holdings issued a eurobond for the first time on Thursday, taking advantage of more favourable market conditions.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) was this week obliged to pay a generous new issue premium for its second euro benchmark of the year, reflecting weaker credit conditions, investor indigestion and its desire to issue in large size.

The sterling SSA market snapped back into life with a flurry of new deals after a quiet few weeks — although bankers lamented that the issuance door may have closed just as quickly as it opened.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Montreal were offering investors sterling debt on Wednesday, as some analysts said that credit spread widening had made bonds in the currency appear cheap.

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The Province of Alberta printed a strong 10 year dollar benchmark on Thursday — the first in that maturity from an SSA since late January — leading the way for others to follow, said SSA bankers. Elsewhere, five years was very much in vogue in the dollar market — although there were some signs of investor fatigue by the end of the week, despite more issuers being expected to look at the tenor next week.

The Province of Alberta printed a strong 10 year dollar benchmark on Thursday — the first from an SSA since late January — leading the way for others to follow, said SSA bankers. Elsewhere, Export Development Canada was unable to move from price thoughts on a five year global.

Fairfax Financial Holdings, the Canadian holding company of a number of insurers and reinsurers around the world, has announced a roadshow for a deal in euros.

Swedish Export Credit Corporation on Wednesday priced what bankers away from the deal said was a “very strong trade”, as it printed in the same five year tenor that has brought success for SSAs over the last few weeks. But one borrower is set to attempt a tenor that has not been visited since late January.

Bank of Montreal offered investors a €500m four year floating rate bond on Wednesday, continuing a trend of issuers looking at the FRN format. The order books were thinly subscribed despite the defensive format of the trade.

National Bank of Canada and Commerzbank both came to the market with seven year covered bonds on Tuesday.

Toronto Dominion Bank this week issued a €1.25bn short five year euro covered bond with a modest concession that matched the record tightest Canadian euro covered bond spread, albeit with a rather low subscription ratio.