* ING Verzekeringen NV Rating: Aa2
Amount: Sfr300m
Maturity: December 29, 2005
Issue price: 100.35
Coupon: 3.75%
Launched: Thursday December 7
Joint leads: UBS Warburg (books), ING Barings BBL
Bookrunner's comment:
Over the last couple of weeks, investors have expressed an interest in products with Libor plus yields, so this deal will have been extremely welcome at 8bp over mid-swaps, or 3.81% to co-lead managers at launch.
The credit was introduced and widely accepted last year, so lines were in place. We launched the offering at a fair price and the deal should be all sold within a couple of days. We syndicated the paper smoothly, with only a few minor declines, and we have already encountered demand from both retail and institutional accounts.
Market appraisal:
"...a typical retail offering. We took a Sfr3m ticket and sold three quarters of that to a retail fund. There should be few problems selling this paper and we are expecting strong demand because of the large volume of forthcoming redemptions this month.
The lead managers had planned to launch the offering last week, but market conditions were not favourable. Demand proved to be keener this week at the lower price."
"...about 5bp too expensive. We took only a small ticket and while there is nothing wrong with the credit itself, we have not had a single enquiry yet. Comparable borrowers, such as Citigroup, which is also a rare visitor to this market, have sold paper at an entirely different level. The ING paper yields around 9bp-10bp over Libid, or close to 6bp over Limid, which is not that attractive compared to the Citigroup offering, which was around 10bp cheaper."
Domestic issuance:
* Givaudan Finance SA
Guarantor: Givaudan
Amount: Sfr300m
Maturity: December 29, 2005
Issue price: 100.70
Coupon: 4.25%
Launched: Friday December 1
Lead mgr: UBS Warburg
Bookrunner's comment:
The borrower, which was spun off from Roche, is a market leader in the fragrances sector. A few months ago, it launched its IPO and this deal has been similarly successful.
We had no problems syndicating the paper, which yielded 63bp over government bonds at launch, or 4.23% to co-lead managers. By Thursday afternoon, it was trading at plus 10bp/minus 10bp.
Market appraisal:
"...we did not take a large ticket, so it was pretty easy to sell our paper. We found good demand from bank accounts initially, with retail investors expressing an interest from Wednesday onwards.
This is the borrower's first deal in Swiss francs and investors showed keen appetites for the paper. While Givaudan is unrated, we view it internally as a single-A credit. Sales were also helped by the fact that the offering was a decent size. Since launch, the price has gone up, which indicates that the deal has performed well."
"...not as generously priced as it could have been. While the cosmetics are decent enough, this is a new name to the Swiss market and investors could have expected a slight incentive to be included in the pricing. Nevertheless, we should be able to sell our ticket without any difficulty, as we only took a few million francs' worth."
* Valora Holding
Amount: Sfr50m (fungible with Sfr170m issue launched 11/10/99)
Maturity: October 28, 2005
Issue price: 100.00
Coupon: 4.5%
Launched: Wednesday December 6
Lead mgr: UBS Warburg