Bond markets called up to meet Nato need

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◆ SSA market faces up to escalating defence funding

◆ Arms company bonds in focus

◆ Slovenia's landmark SLB

As Nato members agreed — mostly — to ramp up their defence funding to 5% of GDP over the next decade, we asked the SSA bond market how it would handle the extra funding that it will need to provide for that end.

Some Nato members don't even meet the old target of 2% of GDP, so this week's declaration made at the alliance's summit in the Hague was quite the escalation. It came in the same week that some of the SSA market's biggest borrowers released their latest funding targets too.

Meanwhile, extra defence spending is a boon to arms companies. They have been spectacular performers in equity markets but we took a look at what all that extra business and revenue will mean for their bond issuance.

Finally, Slovenia this week became the first European sovereign to price a sustainability-linked bond. We examined the deal, how it was priced and marketed, and ask whether this is a credible avenue of funding for other governments.