Search results for

Rating: A1/A+/A+ Amount: Eu500m

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Eu400m inflation linked bond (increased from Eu350m; fungible with Eu600m launched 06/06/02)

China Resources (Holdings) Co has mandated ABN Amro to arrange a $70m three year credit. Details are being finalised, but given the declining pricing for quality Asian credits, observers expect that the all-in will be substantially less than the 70bp paid for China Resources' HK$3.5bn facility completed in January last year.

Mandated lead arrangers BNP Paribas, SG and WestLB this week released details of the Eu1bn three year revolver for the AA/Aa2/AA rated Republic of Portugal, which was launched into syndication last Friday. The loan carries a margin of 2.25bp over Euribor, offers a 2.25bp facility fee for drawn or undrawn commitments and has a 1bp utilisation fee for drawings over 51%.

Cookson Group, the indebted materials technology group, was struggling with its £277.5m offer as its share price dipped below the rights issue price. The deal was launched last Friday at 25p, a 50% discount to the outstanding share price, but fell 25% on Wednesday to close at 21p. The stock recovered slightly yesterday (Thursday), but closed at 23p, still below the strike price. Cookson chose not to underwrite the issue.

Howard Davies, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, yesterday (Thursday) called for greater disclosure of short selling in equity markets. The announcement comes after several leading investors and corporates complained that hedge funds have contributed to the volatility in the stock markets in recent months. David Prosser, the chief executive of UK life assurer Legal & General, called on the FSA in early July to look into the matter.

The $150m (increased from $100m) four year facility for Industrije nafte (INA) has been signed by joint mandated arrangers Mizuho (bookrunner, documentation agent and facility agent) and Zagrebacka banka. The credit, offering a margin of 130bp over Libor, attracted very strong support in the market, raising $200m in commitments.

Amount: Eu50m Schiffspfandbrief series 390 Maturity: August 8, 2005

Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: Eu500m (fungible with four issues totalling Eu3bn first launched 11/08/98) Öffentlicher Pfandbrief series 1258

Amount: Eu394m Legal maturity: August 1, 2013

AIG Credit, a subsidiary of US insurer American International Group, this week succeeded in launching the securitisation it was forced to postpone a month ago. In mid-June Citigroup/SSB marketed a $519m securitisation of premium finance loans for the company, but withdrew the deal two weeks after the intended pricing date, when it failed to clear in the mid-20s over Libor.

Several banks are in the early rounds of negotiations over pricing and terms with Akbank and Export Credit Bank of Turkey (Turk Exim) for deals expected to hit the market in the next few weeks. According to bankers familiar with the discussions, the deal for Akbank is expected to emerge first. The borrower is looking to refinance a $350m one year facility. Most of the debate is expected to centre on pricing, Akbank is reportedly keen to achieve pricing of around 170bp over Libor although bankers are expected to push for margins closer to 200bp.