The Kingdom of Belgium this week leveraged off its experience of launching syndicated government bonds to execute its new 10 year benchmark 1bp inside its curve via bookrunners Citigroup/SSSB, Dexia Capital Markets, SG and UBS Warburg. Bookbuilding for the transaction began slowly when marketing started last Friday (January 17), but by the time the transaction was priced yesterday (Thursday) almost Eu10bn in orders had been placed, some 80% of them at the eventual re-offer. The books also included an unusually high cash component of around 95%.
January 24, 2003