NIB issues USD 1bn five-year global benchmark

On 14 May, NIB priced a new five-year global USD 1 billion benchmark issue. The transaction is NIB’s first public USD Global benchmark in 2019.

The issue has a final maturity of 21 May 2024, pays a semi-annual coupon of 2.250% and has an issue price of 99.906%, to give a spread of +8.4 bps over the UST 2.250% due May 2024, equivalent to mid-swaps plus 6 bps.

The final order book stood in excess of USD 2.2 billion, with over 50 investors participating in the transaction. The majority of demand came from the EMEA region, receiving 56% of allocations, followed by Asia and the Americas with 23% and 21% respectively.

By investor type, banks and central banks & official institutions were the largest investor groups, receiving 56% and 36% of the allocations respectively, followed by fund managers and insurance & pension with 5% and other accounts with 3%.

“Once again, NIB showcased its ability to anticipate markets, printing the year’s tightest 5yr USD benchmark versus treasuries. Despite a volatile market backdrop, the transaction generated broad-based investor demand, highlighting NIB’s top tier credit status,” said Hector Snuggs, Head of London SSA DCM at HSBC.

“This week offered a clear window and recent transactions indicated that demand would be there. During yesterday and this morning we were affected by some strong headwinds from lower yield levels and tighter swap spread. Nonetheless, ending up with an order book of more than USD 2 billion sends a very strong message. We decided to set the spread at mid-swaps + 6bps, to leave room for performance in the secondary market, and yet the bond priced at the tightest treasury spread level this year.” said Jens Hellerup, Head of Funding & Investor Relations at Nordic Investment Bank.

See a joint press release on the bond transaction PDF here.

Bond Summary Terms
Issuer:	Nordic Investment Bank (NIB)
Rating:	Aaa (Stable) by Moody’s Investor Services, AAA (Stable) by Standard & Poor’s
Issue amount:	USD 1 billion (no-grow)
Pricing date:	14 May 2019
Settlement date:	21 May 2019
Coupon:	2.250% payable semi-annually
Maturity date:	21 May 2024
Re-offer spread:	Mid-swaps + 6 bps / UST 2.250% 04/24 + 8.4 bps
Re-offer price / yield:	99.906% / 2.270% s.a.
Format:	SEC Registered Global
Joint lead managers:	Barclays, Citi, HSBC, Nomura

NIB is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact

Mr Jens Hellerup, Senior Director, Head of Funding and Investor Relations, at +358 961 811 401, jens.hellerup@nib.int