Sweden’s other exports

Svenska Handelsbanken has returned to the Australian bond market after an absence of nearly two years and the bank has just announced a two-tranche fixed and floating bond issue, which is in keeping with their past practice. It is their first issue in the Kangaroo market since April 2014 when they issued $450 million fixed and $200 million floating April 2019s at Swap/BBSW + 95bps. This time the floating component is made up of $500 million at BBSW + 150bps and the fixed component worth $150 million was done at Swap + 150bps, so the pricing has deteriorated substantially from two years ago. Svenska is a Stockholm-based commercial bank rated AA- by Standard & Poor’s, Aa2 by Moody’s and AA- by Fitch.