Search results for

Banks invited to commit to the debt facilities supporting Kingfisher's acquisition of France's Castorama are expected to submit replies by today (Friday). BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and UBS Warburg are arranging the acquisition facility. The deal is split into two tranches: a Eu1.6bn three year term loan which carries an initial margin of 75bp over Euribor and a Eu800m one year revolver with an extension offer after year one and again in year two. That piece offers a margin of between 55bp and 85bp over Euribor, depending on the company's gearing.

Rating: Baa2/BBB Amount: Eu175m

AAReal Bank, the German real estate-financing bank, has signed a euro10 billion ($9.81 billion) Euro-MTN programme. It was signed on Monday, June 24 and the joint arrangers are Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley. The first issue off the programme was launched on June 26. The Ft5 billion ($20 million) note goes out five years and the bookrunner was Morgan Stanley. Tammo Diemer, head of long-term funding at AAReal, says: "The deal was mainly placed in Germany and Austria with institutional accounts looking for higher yields. There was a 40 basis point pick-up, so it was a very attractive refinancing level for us." The co-leads off the deal were Bank of Austria, HypoVereinsbank, KBC International, Toronto-Dominion, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Dresdner KW. AAReal Group was formed when Depfa Group split into a public sector finance entity (now Depfa Bank) and a property-financing arm (AAReal Group). AAReal Bank has already issued euro3.5 billion in stand-alone placements in the past year. Diemer says: "We are trying to show a variety of structures and risks to attract a cross section of investors." He adds: "The important next step for us is to establish a mortgage bank. This will be called AAReal Hyp and will be added as an issuer to the Euro-MTN programme later this year. It will be our Pfandbrief-issuing entity. We hope to raise between euro1.5 billion and euro2 billion in Pfandbrief this year, and we will also be using the facility opportunistically, as we have already been fairly active this year." The dealers are ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, DZ Bank, Dresdner KW, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and WestLB.

Alfa Bank, Russia's largest privately owned bank, has scored a major coup with the hiring of Russian markets veteran Bernard Sucher as head of Alfa Asset Management. Until March this year, Sucher, 42, was a senior figure at Russian investment bank Troika Dialog, which he helped to found in the 1990s.

American Electric Power (AEP) is preparing to tap the market for a £450m non-recourse acquisition facility for its purchase of Fiddler's Ferry and Ferrybridge power stations. The acquisition was originally backed by a bridge facility arranged and provided by Barclays Capital, CIBC, Commerzbank and WestLB.

Angel Trains Finance, a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, has set up a euro600 million ($588.50 million) CP programme. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is the arranger and the dealers are Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs, ING Barings/BBL and RBS. S&P rates the shelf A-1.

Amount: $731m and A$33m Legal maturity: June 10, 2033

EuroWeek has learned that mandated lead arrangers Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch this week approached selected banks to sub-underwrite the Eu2.525bn debt facilities backing the Eu3.7bn buy-out of paper-based packaging company Jefferson Smurfit Group (JSG) by Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP). MDP's offer for JSG was made through Deutsche Bank.

EuroWeek understands that RBS and SG have the mandate to arrange a stadium financing for Arsenal FC. Few details have been released on the financing that will fund the development of the club's new football ground.

Lead arrangers and underwriters Barclays Capital, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Royal Bank of Scotland and SG Australia have launched the A$2.25bn acquisition facility for Southern Cross Airports Corp to sub-underwriters. The A$2.25bn facility is divided between a A$1.35bn portion priced at 97.5bp ove BBSY, a A$900m tranche priced at 110bp over, and a A$200m capital expenditure segment.

Sotogrande, Spain We have fled far from the loutish hordes who frequent Royal Ascot and who, if it weren't for their hats, might easily be mistaken for Millwall Football Club supporters. Those photo of two reasonably well-dressed, but very drunk ladies having a fist fight said it all. Whatever happened to a dawn duel with Prada handbags?

JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein have underwritten a Eu6.1bn acquisition facility for BAE Systems. Few details of the facility have been released.