Search results for

Turkey's leading car manufacturers should end the country's dearth of corporate bond supply, either in the second half of this year or early in the next, according to a report published this week by Fitch. Only one company, Petrol Ofisi AS (POAS), the country's largest fuel distributor, has issued since TV manufacturer Vestel Electronics in 2002. POAS this week sent out requests for proposals for a $150m seven year issue.

The $250m five year deal for TPAO (Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi) will not be secured but will instead be structured as straight quasi-sovereign corporate risk.

UBS is planning an aggressive move into the European conduit CMBS market, and intends to hire around 12 bankers in coming months.

The UK chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, announced plans in the UK budget on Wednesday to issue Gilts for maturities of up to 50 years. Launch could be as early as May and, while not ruling out syndication as an issuing method, the market expects the deal to be launched in the usual auction format.

Mashreqbank, the largest private bank in the UAE by assets under management, sold a $325m floating rate note on Tuesday via lead managers Bank of America, BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley.

US funds are rapidly adjusting their portfolio mixes in their search for better investment returns, according to research by US consultancy Greenwich Associates. Fixed income investments have fallen already and fund managers expect domestic equity investments to suffer as they re-align their portfolios with other asset classes. The research shows that US public and private pension plan sponsors, endowments and foundations reduced their average fixed income holdings from 26.8% of total portfolio assets in 2003 to 23.7% in 2004.

Also this week, the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association published preliminary fundraising, investment and divestment figures for 2004. The preliminary total of equity invested for the year was Eu30.6bn, compared with Eu29.1bn in 2003. This is a continuation of the upward trend since 2001. Like last year, buy-outs represented the majority of the total amount invested at Eu21.6bn (70.7%).

Rating: Baa3/BBB-/BBB

Veolia Environnement has appointed BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC and SG CIB as mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners on its Eu3.5bn seven year refinancing. ABN Amro, Bank of America, Calyon, Ixis and Natexis Banques Populaires are also mandated lead arrangers.

Over the last few years, the insurance industry has changed profoundly, partly as a result of catastrophes and losses and the response of regulators and rating agencies to them, and partly because of the changing dynamics of the capital markets.

Mandated lead arranger SMBC has closed United Mizrahi Bank's $100m five year loan, which should be signed for that amount on March 30.