Shipping Firm Pulls Bond Sale After Investors Balk at Price
(Bloomberg) — Europe’s primary debt market has logged its first canceled bond deal since the summer after investors pushed back on pricing.
CMB Tech said it would not proceed with the sale of a $300 million five-year note through its Norwegian entity in a filing on Thursday, citing “less favourable” indicative terms offered under current market conditions “compared to other funding sources available to the company.” The Belgium-based shipping company had hired four Nordic banks on Oct. 20 to arrange the bond.
“The pricing was too tight,” said David Sherman, chief investment officer at Crossingbridge Advisors LLC, noting the firm was coming to the market for pricing at mid-to-high 7%. “The Nordic high-yield primary market has been so robust, but now investors are trying to push back.”
The pulled deal is a rare blemish for Europe’s bond market, which has been on a record-breaking for run most of 2025. The last company that canceled a bond sale was Nordic issuer BW Energy Ltd in June. It too said market conditions were less favorable than other sources of funding.
CMB Tech, whose largest shareholder is the Saverys family, declined to comment further on the matter.
The Nordic high-yield bond market has been growing in popularity as issuers eye a generally more risk-tolerant investor base and greater flexibility. However, the pulled deal may be a sign that the market’s ebullience is reaching its limits, particularly against a backdrop of increased scrutiny from credit investors following debt blow-ups in the US.
Prospective investors in CMB Tech’s debt had to grapple with the company’s relatively high leverage, which was in part driven by financing for a number of yet-to-be-completed vessels.
Signs of Weakness
Cracks have also started to appear in broader markets where investors are starting to push back on some riskier deals if they feel the terms aren’t good enough.
Earlier this month, insurer AXA SA issued a Restricted Tier 1 note that barely got enough orders to cover the €750 million ($870.6 million) deal. The securities are among the most complex in credit markets and potential investors may have been deterred by the relatively low reset spread, a margin over a market rate that determines the coupon if the first call option is skipped.
Demand has also been waning more broadly, with average orders on deals issued earlier this month dropping to the lowest since the start of January.
Still, deals are getting done. Aroundtown SA sold subordinated debt on Thursday. The landlord priced €500 million of perpetual notes callable in April 2031 at a yield of 5.75%, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Investor bids were around €1.8 billion, the person said.
Hybrid bonds are typically the most expensive form of debt for non-financial companies, but borrowers like them because rating agencies partly recognize them as equity, easing the impact on their balance sheets.
The hybrid transaction is expected to be rated BB+.
–With assistance from Stephen Treloar.
(Updates with context, comment from third paragraph.)
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