NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Ida Marie Windrup, Magnus Tønseth, Markus Nilssen and Daniel Jovanovic, BAHR
BAHR Tjuvholmen allé 16 NO-0252 Oslo Norway Tel: +47 21 00 00 50 Email: post@bahr.no Web: www.bahr.no
1. Loan Market Overview 1.1 The Regulatory Environment and Economic Background
1.3 The High-Yield Market The Norwegian bond market remains strong, with continued high activity and growing volumes for both the Corporate IG bond market and the Corporate HY bond market, and 2024 setting a record for new issue volumes. The high activity has continued in 2025. The authors have seen a steady flow of new issuances, refinancings and extensions. However, ESG-driven deals in the Norwegian market have not regained the momentum seen in recent years, amid continuing macro uncertainties and geopolitical risk, which have again directed attention toward energy, shipping, and offshore. A notable trend is that the issue sizes continue to increase. Further, more and more non-Nordic issuers turn to the Norwegian bond market for capital – there are now more non-Nordic issuers than Nordic issu- ers in the Norwegian Corporate high-yield (HY) bond market. It is expected that the Norwegian bond market will Direct lending continues to be a true competitor to the banks. There is naturally limited transparency on statistics within this market in Norway, but based on the authors’ observations from transactions, there seems to be substantial growth, which is expected to continue in the years to come. This is both on a bond format through the templates of the Nordic Trustee and on a more direct and bilateral basis. The format depends both on investor or lender preference and Norwegian regulatory issues, which restrict lend- remain strong for the rest of 2025. 1.4 Alternative Credit Providers
Norway, in 2025, has continued its largely steady economic trajectory, though some fluctuations have occurred since the previous year. The Norwegian Cen- tral Bank retained its policy rate at 4.5% for 2024, then reduced it slightly in early 2025 in response to the level of inflation and international market pressures. At the time of writing, the policy rate is around 4.25%, with another determination scheduled for late summer. From a regulatory perspective, Norway has made further strides in implementing EU financial regula- tions during 2024–2025, most notably by implement- ing the EU’s revised Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR III) from 1 April 2025 and the EU’s Securitisation Regulation from 1 August 2025. The revised Capital Requirements Directive (CRD VI) is expected to be implemented in 2026. 1.2 Impact of Global Conflicts The global impacts of wars, in particular in Ukraine and Gaza (including elsewhere in the Middle East), other geopolitical tensions, and energy shortages in 2023 and 2024 have carried over into 2025. This environment sustains an appetite for offshore and oil services financing in Norway and elsewhere in Europe. While some Nordic banks remain wary, Norwegian and European lenders continue to see opportunity. Meanwhile, financing for LNG and renewable energy remains solid, driven both by lingering energy secu- rity concerns and a growing push for cleaner energy alternatives.
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