Top Section/Ad
Top Section/Ad
Most recent
The preference for a diverse group of lead managers and the convention of reciprocity keep covered bond bookrunning competitive despite concentration so far this year
Chemical sector's growing uncompetitiveness a problem when it comes to attracting investment in the capital markets
When staff complain, they deserve a fair hearing, not a wall of silence
Benin reaped the rewards of its sukuk debut last week, and will do so for years to come
More articles/Ad
More articles/Ad
More articles
-
Horst Köhler, German president, heated up the debate over the credit crisis last week by attacking financial markets as a monster. The markets’ unacknowledged champion, Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann, hit back a few days later, saying the crisis would soon be over and banks should not be demonised. Much of what he said may be right, but it would be more persuasive if he had not led calls for the public sector to bail out the financial markets.
-
When Pernod Ricard set out in March to raise Eu12bn to finance its takeover of Vin & Sprit, the loan market gasped at the pricing it demanded. Now Pernod has bowed to the inevitable and coughed up. Paradoxically, this is encouraging for the loan market, showing that issuers are realising they need to satisfy lenders to get deals done.
-
With Moody’s announcement of a new system of scores for structured finance deals last week, one dangerous idea has been killed. This was that rating agencies should give securitisations a special set of ratings, distinct from the ordinary triple-A to C scale. That would have defeated the purpose of ratings and it is a triumph for common sense that regulators’ bullying calls to segregate ABS have not prevailed. However, the rating agencies still have a very long way to go to win back the market’s trust.
-
Horst Köhler, German president, heated up the debate over the credit crisis last week by attacking financial markets as a monster. The markets’ unacknowledged champion, Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann, hit back a few days later, saying the crisis would soon be over and banks should not be demonised. Much of what he said may be right, but it would be more persuasive if he had not led calls for the public sector to bail out the financial markets.
-
There are growing calls for the aims of monetary policy to be broadened to controlling booms and bubbles, as well as retail price inflation. Opponents argue that monetary policy is a blunt instrument for this purpose and regulatory instruments should be used instead. But the essential point is one of responsibility: such interventions are too important to be left to regulators, and can only be made by elected governments.
-
Good news has been a rare commodity for the European leveraged finance market in the last year, but the £1.14bn loan supporting the buyout of Biffa, the UK waste management group, is set to close oversubscribed this week. This successful syndication has been welcomed as a sign that the market is finally returning to normal. But the optimists should be wary: investor demand is still fragile and weaker deals are likely to have a rough ride.