Pre-migration untagged articles

The widely expected reverse flex on the almost Eu4bn leveraged loan for French directories business PagesJaunes was announced this week, as some bankers close to the deal suggested that the facility was one of the most popular transactions ever.

Reliance Communications, India's second largest mobile phone company, sold a $1bn convertible bond on Monday — by far the country's largest — to strengthen its finances for a possible bid for smaller rival Hutchison Essar.

Senior debt issuance from US and Italian banks continued apace this week, with creativity and size to the fore — and few signs of any slowdown in sight.

Sterling flows picked up yesterday (Thursday) after the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee held interest rates at 5.25%. Conversely, euro demand was strong throughout the week as the European Central Bank also held rates, at 3.5%. Dollar paper buying was steady at the front end of the curve, and non-core currency paper was muted.

European corporate bond investors were briefly relieved this week from the meagre pickings that they have had to put up with since the start of the year, as issuers started to emerge from their closed periods and priced deals.

The euro covered bond market took a back seat to the dollar market this week, but supply will pick up next week as Achmea Hypotheek, Hypothekenbank in Essen and IM C¨¦dulas 10 hit the market.

US monoline bond insurer Ambac made an impressive debut in the US hybrid capital market this week, with a blowout $400m 80 year non-call 30 offering. The deal attracted a staggering $5bn of interest and was priced to give only 20bp in subordination premium.

Credit derivatives broker GFI said this week that the claim made in a recent press release by Creditex that it completed the "first electronic tradeable tranche fixing" on January 31 was false.

Another week, another new low print for iTraxx Crossover Index. It hit 183bp yesterday (Thursday) after crashing through the psychologically important resistance point of 190bp earlier in the week.

Credit Suisse has begun marketing a CDO of equity default swaps, a product that was hyped in 2005 but has barely been heard of since.