The volume of listed corporate bonds on Nasdaq’s Nordic markets grew to a new all-time high during 2016. At the end of last year, the total value of listed corporate bonds on Nasdaq Nordic’s main markets was 65.8 billion euros, an increase of 4.8% since 2015 and 54% since 2011. A large portion of the growth comes from the Swedish market, which makes up 71% of the listed corporate bond volume at Nasdaq’s Nordic markets.
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) welcomed 94 new listings to its Nordic markets in 2016, including both large cap IPOs and a particularly strong inflow of small and medium sized companies (SMEs).
The bond issuers operate in a large spectrum of industries and the Nasdaq´s Nordic Bond Markets have become increasingly diversified in 2016. While Swedish real estate and financial companies still represent the majority of the listed corporate debt, 2016 saw a further diversifications in the types of industries reaching out to the primary debt markets for capital, with online gaming and health food companies among the new issuers.
A record has also been set for the growth market, Nasdaq First North. Seventeen bonds with a total volume of 404 million euros were listed on Nasdaq First North in 2016.
We are pleased to see that our efforts in developing the Nordic Bond markets have been successful”, says Ann-Charlotte Eliasson, head of Nordic Fixed Income at Nasdaq. “The First North Bond Market has improved the ability of small and medium size companies to attain external financing, providing a compelling alternative to loan funding in light of increasingly strict capital requirements on banks.
During 2016, 1.2 billion EUR was raised on the Sustainable Bond Market, bringing the total volume of sustainable bonds to 1.9 billion EUR.
We are especially proud of our small but rapidly growing Sustainable Bond Market, helping companies grow and create more jobs in a more sustainable way. When we launched the market in 2015, it was the first Sustainable Bond Market in the world. We are proud to have listed 36 instruments since then and look forward to welcoming many more in the future”, says Ann-Charlotte Eliasson.
More companies are also taking advantage of the opportunity to issue corporate bonds in foreign currencies. During 2016, bonds were listed in a variety of currencies such as NOK, GBP, EUR and USD, both on First North and the main market.