Following 2017, a record year with a total issuance volume of NOK 121.5 billion equivalent, Q1 2018 became the strongest quarter ever in the Nordic high-yield bond market, with total issuance volume of NOK 40.2 billion equivalent.
Recent months’ global financial market conditions can be described as both eventful and turbulent. Equity investors have been struggling to digest the threat of trade wars, tapering, inflation growth and increasing interest rates.
Nordic credit investors however, have remained largely constructive throughout the period. Even when the VIX (index measuring market volatility) in February spiked to its highest level since 2015, we observed a continuous stream of primary bond transactions priced at favorable terms.
Closing in on Easter, market sentiment softened somewhat and investors became slightly more selective. However, we consider investor liquidity to be robust and expect issuers to continue being active on the back of historically attractive market conditions.
DNB Markets continues to be a leading player and actively arranged transactions totaling NOK 13.5 billion equivalent, corresponding to more than one third of total issuance volume in Q1 2018.
