Swedbank

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.

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.

A pair of Nordic public sector borrowers showed the strength of green bond market, printing a pair of well received trades, both of which were priced inside the issuers’ conventional bond curves.

Kommuninvest issued on Wednesday the largest ever green bond in Swedish kronor. The note offered a negative yield, and was still over 2.6 times subscribed. It was a fantastic example, the leads said, of a strong name issuing in a starved market.

Kommuninvest has selected banks for a bond expected to break the size record for green bonds denominated in Swedish krona.

Swedish banks may have to pay more than their European peers to issue Additional Tier One (AT1) and Tier Two bonds, after the country’s government included plans to tax the securities in its 2017 budget.

Shares in SSAB, the Nordic steel producer, have risen by 11% since the company announced the completion of its oversubscribed Skr5bn ($599m) rights issue on Friday.

Coveris — Stolt-Nielsen

Shares in BW Offshore, one of the world’s largest operators of floating oil production and storage vessels, traded up in Oslo on Monday after the company completed its Nkr847m ($101m) rights issue.

Norwegian renewable power company E-Co Energi brought in two new banks to its latest Nkr1.5bn (€160.6m) refinancing, and saw two leave the syndicate.

Swedbank has made a number of changes in its investment bank group as well as its large corporates and financial institutions (LC&I) division.

Sandvik, one of the last Nordic borrowers to refinance as the regional holidays kick off, this week signed a Skr9bn-equivalent credit facility with two banks leaving the syndicate.