Denmark

Investors staged a protest over pricing in the non-preferred senior bond market this week, causing one transaction to fail and putting two others at risk of falling flat. Comfortable with their returns for 2019 and happy to be able to choose from a glut of new bond offerings, funds have simply been happy to divert their attention elsewhere. Tyler Davies reports.

Danske Bank has made its second visit of the year to the euro tier two market, paying a much tighter spread for a deal that was otherwise identical to its earlier transaction. The Danish issuer has been subject to higher capital requirements in 2019, amid the fallout from a series of high profile money laundering investigations.

Sparebank 1 Boligkreditt (Spabol) took advantage of positive swap yields to issue a well-subscribed €1bn 10 year this week. Danmarks Skibskredit and mBank are likely to follow soon, having each mandated lead managers for covered bond roadshows.

This week's funding scorecard looks at the progress European sovereigns have made in their funding programmes as we approach the end of October.

The European Systemic Risk Board is concerned that covered bonds could be fuelling financial imbalances — a claim that some analysts find tenuous. They do, however, agree that house prices are overvalued, particularly in some Nordic countries where the ESRB has identified a risk of financial contagion.

KommuneKredit’s senior funding and investor relations manager Lasse Vest has left the Danish agency for Danske Bank.

SATS, the Norwegian owner and operator of fitness clubs across the Nordic region, is seeking to list on the Oslo stock exchange, riding a wave of interest in the consumer fitness sector sparked by the IPO of Peloton in New York.

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

Nykredit Realkredit was one of the smallest banks looking to get funding away in a busy euro market on Tuesday, but it was able to command the attention of investors without needing to offer a higher spread.

Guarantor: All Danish municipalities and regions

KommuneKredit failed to set the market alight with the first euro syndicated public sector bond since mid-July, excluding deals from German Laender. The Danish agency only managed to sell €500m for the 11 year benchmark and was unable to tighten the spread during pricing.

Danish agency KommuneKredit mandated banks on Monday for its first euro-denominated bond of the year and the first euro syndicated public sector bond since mid-July, excluding German regions.