Search results for

Amount: Eu600m Rating: Fitch

With the fall of Enron and the rise of investor awareness, General Electric Capital Corp has been forced to put transparency at the heart of its fundraising, a strategy made more urgent in March when Pimco's Bill Gross launched a damaging attack on the size of its CP programme. In an exclusive interview with EuroWeek, GECC's Kathy Cassidy and Kitty Yoh tell Danielle Robinson how they are adapting to the new corporate climate. Not so long ago, investors hardly gave a second thought to buying GECC bonds. Satisfied with the triple-A rating and impeccable track record of the US conglomerate's funding arm, investors would spend more time analysing the fundamentals of lower rated corporates.

GECC issued almost $10bn of bonds this week and debuted in two new markets, as it continues with its plan to raise a total of $75bn-$95bn by the end of this year. Its onslaught began early in the week, when it issued $6bn of resettable, puttable floating rate notes maturing in 2007 but with the option to extend every year after the first 13 months.

Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: $6bn global bond

ating: Aaa/AAA Tranche 1: Eu2bn

The syndication of the Eu3.5bn revolver for A+ rated Bayer is set to close heavily oversubscribed within the next few days. Mandated lead arrangers and joint bookrunners Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan are keeping the books open for an extra day or two to accommodate a few slow moving banks before fully wrapping up the deal.

The Hellenic Republic finally launched its well flagged sale of a further 8% stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) yesterday (Thursday). The sale of about 40.3m shares would, at the current share price, raise Eu684.3m. OTE closed yesterday afternoon at Eu16.98, down 3.1% from Wednesday's close.

The syndication of the $200m three year revolver for Harley Davidson Financial Services Europe has been closed heavily oversubscribed by arrangers Citigroup/SSSB and BNP Paribas. Despite the oversubscription, the borrower has not opted to increase the deal.

HBOS, the UK's largest residential mortgage lender, this week launched the biggest ever European mortgage securitisation (MBS) with a £3.5bn equivalent blowout deal that set new pricing benchmarks for European MBS. As bankers across Europe hurried to complete transactions before next week's ABS conference in Barcelona, joint bookrunners Barclays Capital, JP Morgan and Citigroup/SSSB catapulted the jumbo MBS into the market, the first issue from a new master trust.

A bank presentation was held on Monday for the syndication of the £190m refinancing for Holmes Place arranged by Lloyds TSB Capital Markets. Ticket sizes to the market range from £5m to £10m.

Arrangers ING Bank and Rabobank have launched a $74m 5-1/2 year term loan for Florens Container Inc (1998), guaranteed by parent Florens Container Inc and Cosco Pacific. Banks joining the facility will receive a margin of 72.5bp over Libor. Fees to the market are at two tiers: arrangers lending $10m or more will receive 86bp and co-arrangers pledging $5m-$9m will gain 74bp.

The announcement of the winning consortium to arrange the Eu300m five year facility for Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) is imminent. A final shortlist has been drawn up and only two of the original five bidding groups are still in the running: IntesaBci, Commerzbank and ABN Amro; and Sumitomo, WestLB, DZ Bank and ING.