Svenska Handelsbanken priced a $1.4bn (Eu1bn, Skr9.4bn) dual tranche five year senior unsecured transaction on Tuesday, raising funding at a much lower cost than that available in euros to highlight a large arbitrage in play between the markets, according to a banker away from the leads.
Stadshypotek launched a rare euro floating rate covered bond this (Friday) morning, a Eu300m five year issue that was launched opportunistically in response to interest in the format from investors, with the deal providing the issuer with attractive funding versus its curve, according to a lead syndicate banker.
The Nordic first quarter reporting season is well underway, with Danske today (Thursday) the latest to announce results. Mats Anderson, equity research analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, says that results have been marginally better than expected, boding well for the rest of the year.
S&P upgraded Danske and took rating actions on Swedish banks on Tuesday in connection with a raft of actions on European banks to reflect less assumed government support given new resolution frameworks, and also flagged plans to incorporate this into covered bond ratings.
Svenska Handelsbanken priced an inaugural Kangaroo senior unsecured benchmark on Tuesday, a A$650m (Eu438m, Skr3.93bn) dual tranche issue that was part of a mini-wave of Australian-targeted European issuance benefitting from local majors being in blackout, according to a syndicate banker.
Stadshypotek priced a Eu1.25bn five year covered bond on Monday, the joint tightest post-crisis non-German Pfandbrief euro benchmark covered bond, with an official at the issuer noting that the prevailing euro market provided a “unique” funding opportunity for Scandinavian issuers.
Danske and DNB released fourth quarter results today (Thursday) that reflect “various stages of recovery” while reporting by Handelsbanken and SEB yesterday confirm the strength of the Swedish banking sector, said a KeplerCheuvreux analyst.
Svenska Handelsbanken printed the first bank capital issue of 2014 on Tuesday, a Eu1.5bn (Skr16bn) 10 year non-call five subordinated bond that was swamped with demand to pave the way for the tightest pricing of a Tier 2 issue since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, according to a lead syndicate banker.
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).
Demand for a Eu1bn long six year SpareBank 1 covered bond fell short of expectations on Tuesday, and an official at the issuer said the outcome was surprising, with the choice of maturity and amount of recent Nordic supply perhaps explaining the subdued reception.