Search results for

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Eu1bn obligations foncières

The credit market is facing its worst crisis in living memory. While bond markets have experienced crises before — Asia in 1997, Russia and Long Term Capital Management in 1998 — they recovered quickly.

The credit market is facing its worst crisis in living memory. While bond markets have experienced crises before — Asia in 1997, Russia and Long Term Capital Management in 1998 — they recovered quickly.

EuroWeek hears that Hrvatska Banka za Obnovu I Razvitak (HBOR) is in discussions with its relationship banks about a new facility. This should be larger than its previous $82.5m five year term loan in June, arranged by ING and RZB. Bankers say the facility will have a 10 year tenor and carry a higher margin than June's 80bp over Euribor.

Re-issue notes: A$205.8m Rating: AAA/AAA

William Galvin, secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, announced this week that he had uncovered damning evidence linking Credit Suisse First Boston to the publishing of misleading research reports in return for investment banking business. A spokesman for Galvin confirmed that all of the materials relating to the latest set of allegations have been turned over the New York attorney-general, Eliot Spitzer.

The City of Prague is making early enquiries about securing a new facility of up to Eu200m. The margin for the deal may possibly be as low as 10bp-15bp over Libor. The borrower is expected to be 20% risk weighted.

Enel's shares fell this week on continued speculation that the Italian government was planning to sell a Eu3bn stake in the electricity utility before the end of this year. The Ministry of Economy and Finance issued a rebuttal of the reports, saying that the rumours were "without foundation".

Mandated arrangers Barclays Bank, Deutsche Bank, DnB Markets, JP Morgan and Nordea will close syndication of the $500m seven year facility for Bergesen dy as early next week. Signing will take place in two weeks' time. The deal is already oversubscribed to $700m. No decision on an increase has been made.

Rating: Baa1/BBB Amount: Eu200m

South African power utility Eskom priced a Eu200m three year offering at the tight end of expectations last Friday via lead managers Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Crédit Agricole Indosuez. Eskom's main reason for issuing was to maintain name recognition in the European markets, said Johan van den Berg, general manager in charge of treasury at the state owned electricity company. "We have been active there for more than 20 years and our last bond matures this month," he said. "We wanted to stay on asset managers' books. This is why we kept the offering small and short - if we had needed the money, we would have looked for longer dated paper."

Arrangers Bank of America, Citigroup/SSSB, Deutsche Bank and Nordea were this week forced to flex the pricing of a £250m 3-1/2 year revolver for the UK's biggest travel group, MyTravel Group plc. Resistance to the loan's tight pricing was voiced at a bank meeting held in London on October 1. The apparent refusal of Deloitte & Touche to sign off MyTravel's accounts, a profit warning, the rapid decline of the company's share price and the resignation of CEO Tim Byrne (after the market had announced its distaste for the transaction's pricing) meant that the borrower and arrangers had no choice but to bump up the deal's yield.