Search results for

Are they changing the guard in the debt capital markets division of Merrill Lynch? The whisper on the grapevine is that David Lund, the very bright young hotshot from the Tokyo office who moved to New York with new fixed income supremo Dow Kim, is no longer on his perch. This must have taken even Merrill insiders by surprise because David Lund seemed as if he could walk on water and feed loaves and fishes to a cast of thousands.

Amount: A$211m Legal maturity: March 15, 2005

There was more activity this week in a storming primary market than in any week since March. More than $20bn of investment grade supply was issued in the dollar market and over Eu12.5bn came to the euro sector. But markets remain volatile, more so following yesterday's (Thursday) fall in the Dow Jones to below 8,000 for the second time since July.

The dollar sector was the only one of the major currencies to see a slight dip in issuance on last week's levels. But 82 trades were still executed, with UK and French borrowers being particularly strong.

Over $2bn was traded in the euro market this week and Dutch borrowers were the most active, issuing 10 of the 71 trades. Fortis issued four notes from its recently updated EuroMTN programme (see MTN news page) Fortis Finance closed one of these four notes: a Eu20m one year note via Citigroup/SSSB. Fortis's three notes totalled Eu73m. ING Bank, Rabobank Nederland and SNS bank all closed Eu10m deals.

Trading in the EuroMTN markets was stronger this week than for some time, and this was reflected in the yen market as 116 trades were issued. Repackaged entities were especially busy issuing a fifth of the week's overall yen volume. Goldman Sachs was particularly active, closing four trades off its Signum $10bn secured note programme. The trades, issued through Signum, Signum Amber and Signum Hazel, total ¥3.02bn. Nomura SPV, Rosetta, closed the largest yen trade from this issuer type: a ¥3.3bn note that reaches out to March 1 2017.

Compiled by Richard Favis, RBC Capital Markets, Johannesburg Tel: +27 11 784 5065

The United Mexican States this week priced a stunning $1.75bn 8% 20 year trade at one of the lowest yields the sovereign has ever achieved. Some are already calling it the bond deal of the year.

The United Mexican States this week priced a stunning $1.75bn 8% 20 year trade at one of the lowest yields the sovereign has ever achieved. Some are already calling it the bond deal of the year.

The Merrill Lynch fund manager survey published this week shows that investors are starting to regain some confidence in the equity markets with a net balance of 48% of investors expecting the global economy to be stronger in 12 months' time. Investors have had 12 months to ruminate on the events of September 11, 2001 and, on the whole, the assessment is that conditions can only improve.

Goldman Sachs has appointed Peter Oppenheimer as head of pan-European strategy. He will report to Neil Crowder and Anthony Ling, co-heads of European equity research. Oppenheimer moves from HSBC, where he had been chief investment strategist since 1998. He joined HSBC in 1993 as a global strategist, and was chief European strategist from 1994 to 1998. Before HSBC he was chief investment strategist at Hambros.

Barclays Capital (bookrunner), Citigroup/SSSB, Deutsche Bank (bookrunner) and JP Morgan this week launched German utility RWE's Eu5bn revolving credit into syndication. The company, as bankers had expected, commanded a fine pricing from its lead relationship lenders. But with the pull of a A1/A+ rating, RWE will no doubt capture the audience of banks it needs to sell its first widely syndicated loan.