Search results for

* New York Life Funding Rating: Aa1/AA+

Let's hear just one or two kind words about Deutsche Bank's chairman, Dr Rolfy Breuer. On a totally innocent trip to London, the poor Doc was mugged in broad daylight by hired assassins from the financial press. When he finally picked himself up from the pavement, he found that he was holding a story saying that he had overstayed his welcome as chairman of the Vorstand, was not wanted on the bank's prestigious supervisory board and that his credibility on any public speaking platform was on a level with the late president Dickie Nixon's. We don't like to see the underdog ambushed by rented press bouncers just because he has been having a run of bad luck. Remember that the Doc, with his toothpaste-advertisement snappers and a Hollywood complexion honed to match George Hamilton IV, still believes that he can schmooze the crowds and that everyone out there just loves him. One characteristic that Doc Breuer certainly doesn't lack is self-confidence, and any personal criticism falls like water off a duck's back.

Yen was going out to either very short or very long maturities, with nothing between two and 12 years. Baa2-rated Konica Finance was at the short end with two trades: a ¥1.40 billion ($11.31 million) six-month note and a ¥1.65 billion one-year trade. Nippon Oil (USA) issued a ¥1 billion 11-month deal. Commonwealth Bank of Australia was also at the short end with a ¥25 billion two-year trade. In the longer maturities, Lloyds TSB Bank closed a ¥500 million 12-year deal and the longest-dated trade was World Bank's ¥1 billion 31-year deal.

The Eu6.5bn loan for Italenergia has blown out in senior syndication and is set to close twice oversubscribed. The audacious acquisition credit, with initial leverage at 6.5 times, took a while to gather momentum but banks have seized on the opportunity to earn lucrative fees in the post-September 11 deal drought.

* Elkraft Transmission AmbA Rating: AA-

* Alcatel Rating: Baa1/BBB

HypoVereinsbank has managed a euro270 million ($238.59 million) five-years and 10-months deal that has been divided between eight issuers. Kommunekredit, Kommunalbanken and Stadtsparkasse Koln issued tranches of euro28.30 million each; KfW International Finance has a euro23.7 million share; Sachsen LB Europe had 50% of the deal with a euro135.60 million trade; and NIB Capital Bank, BCL International Finance and Caixa Geral de Depositos each did issues of euro13.5 million. The notes are equity-index-linked to a HypoVereinsbank index of the 12 largest European stocks with price return ratio, called the Europe Winner Index. The note is non-callable and pays one coupon at maturity on October 24 2007 (the 25 October for Caixa Geral de Depositos). The return is based on the performance of the companies in the index compared to the volatility of their stocks. Sachsen LB Europe provides the downside performance while the other seven issuers provide the upside performance. The trade was sold to a HypoVereinsbank Luxembourg-based fund. Westland/Utrecht Hypotheekbank also issued a euro9.10 million trade via HypoVereinsbank. This is due on December 3 and also goes out to 2007. It is an amortising note that pays a coupon quarterly. The note has been swapped back into floating rate. Bremer Landesbank Kreditanstalt Oldenburg has issued a euro250 million 18-month straight floating rate note. It is linked to 6m Euribor flat and JPMorgan was the bookrunner. Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) has issued a euro1.5 million 31-month trade, which is the third tranche off a previous deal. The note is index-linked to the DJ Eurostoxx50 and is 100% capital guaranteed. It is self-led. Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz issued a euro9.14 million 14-year note via Morgan Stanley. The note will be settled on December 18 and is a floating-rate note linked to 3m Euribor +4bp. The note was issued due to investor demand. Caixa Geral de Depositos managed a euro200 million 10-year trade for itself. It will be settled on December 3 and is non-call-five. It pays a plain vanilla coupon linked to 3m Euribor +65 bp for the first five years, when the coupon will change to 3m Euribor +115 bp if the note is not called. FGH Bank self-led a euro10 million seven-year fixed-rate note. It pays a coupon of 4.9% annually.

There were nine trades issued in euro on Friday, totalling $138.23 million. And nine different issuers were involved. Gallaher Group made its sixth trade of the year with a euro40 million ($35.41 million) trade that goes out to December 2004. The UK issuers' last deal was made at the end of October. BNP Paribas and SGA were the two French borrowers getting involved. BNP did a euro5.7 million deal that matures in five year's time and SGA announced a euro20 million seven-year deal. Deutsche Bank did a euro3 million 25-year trade, while fellow-German Volkswagen Financial Services did a euro40 million six-month trade. Meanwhile BCL International Finance did its 46th euro transaction of the year. It was a euro2.15 million trade with a maturity date of December 1 2004. Banque Generale du Luxembourg did a euro2.5 million one-year deal. And ING Bank did a euro10 million five-year trade that pays a coupon of 1%.

The euro market had a busy start to the week, though most of the 18 trades had terms of two years or under. Banesto Finance and Banesto Issuances, the Banco Espanol de Credito vehicles, both came to the market with one-year notes. Their sizes were euro3 million ($2.65 million) and euro3.17 million respectively. They have fixed coupons of 10.67% and 10.8%. Banque Generale du Luxembourg also announced a couple of small trades. It did a euro5 million one-year trade and a euro2 million 21-month trade. Their respective fixed coupons are 10.5% and 13%. Lafarge announced a euro250 million trade that matures in March 2005. But German issuers were busiest. Norddeutsche Landesbank did a euro250 million 18-month note with JPMorgan as bookrunner. It pays 6m Euribor flat. Deutsche Bank went smaller, with a euro5 million 18-month trade that pays 4.6%. And Volkswagen Financial Services did two trades. One was a euro10 million nine-month deal, with BNP Paribas as bookrunner, and that pays a coupon of 3m Euribor +8 basis points. The other a euro15 million deal with the same maturity done via Merrill Lynch. It has a fixed coupon of 3.352% and an issue price of 99.986091%. Sigma Finance Corp, the Gordian Knot conduit, also went for a floating rate note. It was a euro0.8 million five-year-and-four-month trade that pays 6m Euribor flat. The only non-European issuer was Unibanco, with a euro0.63 million one-month note, and a euro1.42 million one-year note.

Just eight euro trades were closed on yesterday amid one of the quietest days for trading in some time. Compagnie de Financement Foncier boosted volume with a two-year euro1 billion ($888.51 million) MTN that pays interest quarterly. Kommuninvest I Sverige did two trades for euro400 million combined. It did a euro200 million note that matures on June 10 2013. The note pays interest quarterly and has a final coupon of 9.545%. The other note for euro200 million goes out to September 10 2013 and has a coupon of 9.722%. UBS (Jersey) closed a six-month euro10 million note that carries a high single coupon of 26.400%. Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) went even shorter with a euro1 million note that matures on February 5 of next year. Deutsche Bank did a euro10.86 million issue. Elsewhere, FGH bank did a 10-year euro7.50 million note and GMAC International Finance closed a euro8 million trade that matures on June 11 2003.

France Télécom hammered out an agreement at a bank meeting in Paris on Wednesday, attended by a group of 17 banks, for a Eu15bn loan to refinance the Eu30bn credit it signed last year for the acquisition of Orange. The mandated arrangers and bookrunners of the jumbo are five of the six banks that led last year's credit - Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, CSFB and SG.

Compagnie de Credit Mutuel de Bretagne this week signed a euro3 billion ($2.66 billion) Euro-MTN programme, using HSBC as the arranger. It is the ninth programme that has been signed by a French issuer this year, making France the fourth-busiest country in 2001 in terms of Euro-MTN programme origination. The UK comes first with 14 facilities signed. It is the fifth programme that HSBC, or its Singaporean subsidiary, has had a hand in arranging, and the second in the space of two weeks (see MTNWeek, issue 256). The dealers off Compagnie de Credit Mutuel's new facility are thought to include the arranger, the issuer, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank.