Danske sold its longest benchmark senior unsecured bond on Wednesday, a Eu1bn seven year issue that attracted over Eu2.3bn of demand. It issuer also last week launched its first benchmark, syndicated Norwegian krone covered bond, as part of a planned Norwegian expansion.
Danske attracted over €4bn of demand for a €1bn five year senior unsecured bond that surpassed expectations on Wednesday in an otherwise quiet week, with investors “scrambling” for what a lead banker said may be one of the last offerings of single-A rated senior paper before the onset of blackout periods.
Danske Bank sold a twice-subscribed $1bn five year senior unsecured bond on Monday, with a lead noting it priced close to a recent issue from Swedbank, which is more established in the US market. Sparebanken Sør is expected next week with an inaugural euro benchmark covered bond.
Danske Bank sold a Eu1bn five year covered bond on Tuesday that a lead manager said kick-starts more frequent issuance out of the Danish bank’s C pool after changes to the way in which the issuer funds its international mortgage lending with covered bonds.
Danske Bank launched a Eu1bn (Dkr7.5bn) five year covered bond on Tuesday amid a wave of supply that the market proved more than able to absorb, and further benchmarks are due early next week.
A move by the Finnish FSA (Finanssivalvonta) to designate Nordea Bank Finland, OP Financial Group, Danske Bank and Municipality Finance as systemically important credit institutions, and therefore impose upon them additional capital requirements, is credit positive for the affected banks, according to Moody’s.
Nordea and Svenska Handelsbanken first quarter results announced on Wednesday echoed those with which SEB kicked off the Nordic bank reporting season the previous Thursday, showing strong net financial items, although Nordea fell behind its peers on net interest income (NII) that for SEB and Handelsbanken proved resilient.
Danske Bank tapped into strong demand in the covered bond market this week to launch the first Nordic euro covered bond benchmark of 2015, a Eu1bn (Dkr7.44bn) long five year issue that attracted over Eu1.7bn of orders and achieved pricing flat to its curve.
Danske and Swedbank this week hit a hectic Additional Tier 1 (AT1) market and Handelsbanken and Nykredit Realkredit mandated debuts in spite of some weakness in the hybrid asset class, while DNB today (Friday) stuck to its domestic market for its first AT1.
Moody’s upgraded Danske Bank from Baa1 to A3 last week, citing as the main driver continued improvement in the Danish bank’s profitability, with reduced refinancing risk in its mortgage credit operations another factor.