The Nordic region is one of few exceptions this year in euro benchmark covered bonds in that overall net issuance is positive. Crédit Agricole CIB’s Florian Eichert looks ahead to assess what lies in store for Nordic supply in 2014.
A Danish government plan under which bonds refinancing Danish ARMs would automatically extend in certain stressed scenarios would greatly reduce associated refinancing risks, according to Fitch, but the rating agency on Wednesday also said that there are questions regarding details of its implementation.
Nykredit Bank sold a Eu500m two-and-a-half year floating rate senior unsecured issue yesterday (Wednesday) to refinance a bond of the same size maturing in January, according to an official at the issuer, with recent FRN deals also encouraging the move.
DLR Kredit and Nykredit Realkredit wrapped up November auctions for the refinancing of their ARM bonds yesterday (Wednesday), with officials at both institutions highlighting the high quality of bidding.
Danske Bank sold Dkr5.55bn (Eu744m, $1.01bn) equivalent of Tier 2 capital across five local Nordic currency transactions in fixed and floating rate format on Tuesday, which an official at the issuer said was an “impressive” size that reflected positively on the depth of its local markets.
Nykredit Realkredit priced its second euro senior secured deal of the year on Tuesday, a Eu500m long five year that an official at the issuer said went well, drawing more than Eu800m of demand and performing after pricing.
Bonds to refinance ARMs have been sold at record low yields and spreads since the latest Danish auction season began on Monday, with this being attributed to lower supply and planned changes to ARMs — even though these were postponed by three months.
Danske Bank is exploring investor interest in Tier 2 debt in the three Nordic currencies and depending on feedback could launch a deal, which would be its second Tier 2 issuance this year, after a September deal in euros.
Svenska Handelsbanken made its third visit to the sterling market this year with a £400m (Eu477m, Skr4.27bn) seven year senior unsecured deal on Thursday of last week (14 November).
Moody’s considers a framework for systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) proposed by Norway’s Financial Supervisory Authority last week to be credit positive for eight financial institutions designated SIFIs.