Search results for

Asia Pacific * Series 2002-1G Medallion Trust

Hong Kong Banks in Hong Kong are bidding for the mandate to arrange a HK$5bn loan for PCCW-HKT Telephone. The deal will part refinance the five year portion of the $4.7bn fundraising completed in 2001.

Congratulations to Lehman Brothers, the firm that has had the courage to declare war on "dress down" Mondays to Fridays. Now Lehman men will have to wear suits, unless they are buried deep in the bowels of the back-office and are never allowed to be seen by visiting clients. Lehman's decision is a return to common sense. We deliberately try not to visit too many offices, but when we have no choice, the impression is one of entering an Oxfam jumble-sale room for charity clothes. It is really a sad state of affairs when the best dressed people you see are the lowly paid security guards, who take their dress cue from nightclub bouncers.

* Nederlandse Waterschapsbank NV Rating: Aaa/AAA

Diminishing volumes because of a drop in M&A and a shaky telecoms sector challenged the loan market in 2001. At the end of last year, loan bankers were confident that with an improved economic environment volumes would increase in 2002. However, with daily credit scares and profit warnings, M&A volumes show no sign of returning to the levels of 1999 and 2000, and the TMT sector has not yet stabilised. This week EuroWeek conducted a straw poll of syndication bankers at the top 12 loan houses in London to reveal what attitudes persist in the first two months of 2002.

Banque PSA Finance has increased the limit off its debt issuance programme to $8 billion from $6.5 billion. The programme has $6.25 billion outstanding off 79 trades.

Banco Comercial Portugues has added Credit Suisse First Boston as a dealer to its euro3 billion ($2.61 million) global CP programme. Banco Portugues do Atlantico has been dropped as an issuer. The programme was signed in 1999 via Goldman Sachs and has $1.23 billion outstanding off 37 trades.

The recovery of the equity capital markets was in doubt last night as BHW Holdings pulled what would have been the first major European fully marketed issue of 2002.

The recovery of the equity capital markets was in doubt last night as BHW Holdings pulled what would have been the first major European fully marketed issue of 2002.