The Nordic bond market has welcomed a growing number of international renewables and data centre developers over recent quarters, all of whom value the quick and efficient way in which this framework allows them to tap investors for capital to help drive their growth.

Sweden-based BESS developer Flower was one of the most recent parties to access the Nordic bond market, announcing in early February that it had raised SEK 700m (EUR 66.2m) in capital through the issuance of a senior-secured bond with a three-year tenor.

Proceeds will primarily be used to refinance existing debt, and to advance the development of its energy infrastructure pipeline in Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, in addition to Sweden. The move was particularly notable as the company had in 2025 been seen in the market looking to secure a majority co-investor for a circa 3 GW tranche of its pipeline. The Nordic bond market was seemingly an acceptable plan B.

Data centre developers have also been busy, with Marguerite-backed Conapto in September 2025 completing a SEK 1bn (EUR 92m) tap issue on the market, for example.

Further renewables and data centre players to have been active in this market in recent quarters include Polaris Renewable Energy (USD 175m – December 2024), European Energy (multiple issues), Scatec (multiple issues), Bonheur (multiple issues), Eolus (EUR 50m – May 2025), EcoDataCenter (SEK 1bn – Q3 2024), Bulk Infrastructure (NOK 1.75bn / EUR 156m – Q2 2025) and ASP Data Center (NOK 615m / EUR 52m – Q1 2025).

Such developers – from across the renewables and data centre markets – are expected to feature more and more prominently in the Nordic Bond Market, which has traditionally been the preserve of long-established local players in industries such as shipping, oil and gas and real estate.

One of the main reasons for the Nordic Bond Market’s popularity is that the whole process is standardized, quick and efficient, as it requires very light documentation with a term sheet often only stretching to around 50 pages.

“A typical first-time issue takes approximately five-six weeks from start to settlement…due to standardised documentation with no rating required for the issuers,” says Ivan Adzaip, head of renewables, debt capital markets, at Oslo-based Arctic Securities, which has since 2024 completed more than 120 transactions through the framework, raising over 20bn EUR for companies globally.

Once a company has a bond outstanding, new bonds take around two weeks to issue as all the documentation can be updated and reused.

“A bond can also include a borrowing limit which can be called for in a tap issue which can take around two days to complete and constitute as much as 1x-1.5x of the original bond issuing amount,” Adzaip adds.

The speed with which developers are able to source capital from the Nordic Bond market can be particularly important when contracts have recently been won and time is off the essence.

Conapto’s SEK 1bn issuance last autumn, for example, came just weeks after it had entered into a 10-year agreement with a new customer to deliver 16 MW of IT capacity. Net proceeds from the tap issue were immediately applied towards financing the construction of the additional IT capacity.

Bonds are also a way of diversifying developers funding.

“Within infrastructure, we see that especially renewable IPPs and data center operators are utilising the Nordic Bond market to create an efficient two layered capital structure with typical bank debt on SPV level and Nordic unsecured bonds at the holdco or topco level which is then injected as equity into the SPVs for a much more efficient use of equity within the group,” Adzaip says.

For renewables developers, access to this type of funding at project level can be particularly helpful if the solar or wind plant in question has not yet secured a long-term PPA or other form of contracted revenue, and which therefore will struggle to attract senior non-recourse lenders.

“It’s a way of bridging until you can get the banks in – lender appetite is also very variable, and some have too much exposure to one offtaker, for example,” one advisor says.

The Nordic Bond Market posted a record year in 2025, and all the signs are that the growth will continue this year, with a widening pool of international participants.

“If you look at Nordic Trustee’s 2025 report, the only thing Nordic about this market now is that it has a Nordic framework, and it’s now spreading internationally – there were 50% non-Nordic issues last year, and it’s also growing now on the investor sphere, with 60% of the volume in USD or EUR-denominated currencies and only 40% in Nordic currencies,” says one advisor active in the region.

Arctic Infrastructure will be hosting its Annual Infrastructure Seminar at the Four Seasons Hotel in London on March 19, together with Wikborg Rein and McKinsey. The event will include a dedicated session on infrastructure financing with bonds using Nordic documentation