Search results for

Just seven trades, totalling $427.12 million were issued in US dollar and four came from HSBC. The bank concentrated its trading at the short end and the HSBC Investment Bank (Netherlands) issued two notes for $20 million, which both mature on December 7 this year. They are due to be settled on October 17. And HSBC Bank USA issued two six-month notes: one for $1.54 million and one for $80,000. Both notes are due to be settled tomorrow and will mature on April 12 2002. Guaranteed investment contract- (gic-) backed issuer John Hancock Global Funding issued a $320.50 million with a tenor of 23 months. And Achmea Hypotheekbank went out to three years with a $60 million trade, due to be settled on October 19. Beta Finance Corp was the only borrower to issue in the long-term maturity sector. Its $5 million note goes out to 2011 and is due on October 17.

Northern Rock closed two large notes, both due to be settled on October 17 and both going out one year. Lehman Brothers was the lead dealer off both trades. One was for $300 million and pays a floating rate of interest linked to 3m $Libor plus a margin. The other note, for $325 million, was linked to 1m $Libor. Royal Bank of Scotland issued three $10 million trades, two of which go out to 2011. One trade is due on October 19 and goes out to 2007. It is a range accrual note linked to 3m $Libor arrears during years two to six and will pay a fixed rate of 5.900%. During the first year the coupon is fixed at 5.000%. Lehman Brothers is the bookrunner. Royal Bank of Scotland also issued a $10 million 10-non-call-two trade that is linked to 6m $Libor +60bp until the call and pays a fixed rate of 7.250% annually thereafter. The note was self-led. And it closed a $10 million 10-non-call-two led by JPMorgan. Interest is linked to 3m $Libor +63 bp until the call and 7.250% annually thereafter.

Volumes crept back up again as UD dollar brought in $752 million on Friday, compared to the $2.67 billion that went through the market altogether, mostly in euro and yen. KfW International Finance closed a $20 million four-year trade via HSBC. The note is due on October 12 and pays a fixed rate of 4%. It is callable after one year and semi annually thereafter. K2 Corporation, the Cayman Islands-based financial corporate, issued a $30 million one-year trade. Instituto de Credito Oficial closed a $25 million 18-month trade that is due to be settled on October 11 and pays interest quarterly. Bank of Nova Scotia was active in the mid-term, with a $30 million three-year note. It pays a final coupon of 11.400%. And Hitachi Asia closed the longest-dated US dollar trade: a $500 million eight-year note that pays a final coupon of 5.050%.

The market reacted sensitively to the military action taken against Afghanistan on Sunday night. And public holidays in Japan and the US on Monday meant that overall just 47 trades were closed on Monday. US dollar saw just under a quarter of the action, with 10 deals closed. Hitachi International (Holland) came to the market with a $20 million six-month note, its first note in US dollar this year having previously issued only in yen. Other issuers in the mid-term sector were all bank names, such as Barclays Bank with a five-year $18.78 million trade that pays a final coupon of 5.800% and pays interest semi-annually. It also issued a one-year $30 million deal. Commonwealth Bank of Australia also closed a five-year $10 million note that pays interest quarterly and a final coupon of 6.635%. And BNP Paribas was in the five-year sector with two $5 million notes. Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers SPV Anthracite Rated Investments closed the longest-dated trades. The former issued a $50 million note that pays a final coupon of 5.200% and goes out to 2007, while the SPV also issued a six-year trade for $20 million.

Versatel this week became the latest alternative telecoms carrier to announce a capital restructuring, with a Eu1.7bn debt for equity exchange plan. The Dutch carrier's move followed Colt Telecom, which last week strengthened its balance sheet with a £400m equity offer underwritten by its majority investor Fidelity.

Nasdaq and the S&P 500 index yesterday (Thursday) topped pre-September 11 levels, sparking further optimism that the capital markets are returning to business as usual. Corporate borrowers braved the market late this week, although the focus remained overwhelmingly on defensive sectors and instruments. Issuance was light in dollars, although Fannie Mae yesterday offered $2bn of five and 10 year Benchmark notes, giving investors another opportunity to buy top quality paper after a brace of issues from US agencies last week.

France Mandated arrangers CDC IXIS and JP Morgan have closed the Eu1.1bn equivalent loan for oil and gas services provider Technip.

Westdeutsche Landesbank Dusseldorf (WestLB) signed a euro15 billion ($13.66 billion) global CP programme yesterday, October 11. Morgan Stanley and WestLB were co-arrangers. Issuance off the programme will begin next week. Michael Renner, head of rates, Europe, at WestLB says: "We expect to be in the Euro-CP market early next week and will issue in the US CP market shortly after. We aim to increase the outstandings over time and would like to reach between euro5 billion and euro7 billion in our first year." As well as euro and US dollar, the issuer will look for opportunities in yen, Hong Kong dollar, sterling and Swiss franc. Renner says the nine-strong dealer panel will provide much wider distribution. He says: "We saw the need to cover both markets and to reinvent our existing programmes. We will be targeting big CP investors worldwide." The issuer already has two short-term debt programmes: a $2.5 billion US CP programme with Lehman Brothers and WestLB as dealers, and a Dm5 billion ($2.33 billion) Westbills programme - a domestic shelf with only WestLB as dealer. Neither programme has debt outstanding and they will both be taken off the market once the global CP shelf is fully working. Renner adds: "We don't intend to do a roadshow initially. Our name is already well established in both markets and our marketing will be done initially through the dealer panel and ourselves." The programme has short-term ratings of A-1+ and P-1 from Standard & Poor's and Moody's respectively and long-term ratings of AA+ and Aa1. The dealers for the Euro-market are Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and WestLB. The dealers for the US are Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and WestLB.

* Walt Disney Co Rating: A3/A/A

Yesterday's yen business was focused on sub-¥1 billion ($8.31 million) deals, in particular from French and Japanese issuers. And 10 of the 22 trades that were announced had terms of under five years. There were a couple of bigger trades however. Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat Luxembourg announced a ¥10 billion four-month deal that pays a final coupon of 3.5%, and Hitachi Asia did an ¥8 billion trade that has a tenor of one month. There were only two other notes above ¥1 billion: A ¥2.5 billion deal from Nippon Oil (USA) that goes out to October next year, and a ¥1.1 billion three-month trade from MMC International Finance (Netherlands). French borrowers have maintained a consistent popularity in yen. BNP Paribas announced two ¥100 million deals that go out to October 2021 and October 2031. CDC IXIS Capital Markets also did two trades. Both were ¥500 million notes, and they go out to November 2016 and October 2026. They have respective final coupons of 2% and 5.2%. And Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) did a ¥50.05 million deal that matures in January 2002. Its final coupon is 24.8%. The Japanese issuers together announced the biggest volume. As well as the Hitachi, MMC International Finance and Nippon Oil trades, Industrial Bank of Japan Finance did a ¥1 billion seven-year deal. Kommunalbanken did a ¥1 billion 30-year deal and a ¥500 million 25-year trade. SEK did a ¥500 million 30-year trade. It has a power reverse dual currency, Bermuda callable structure. And UBS and Abbey National both went for ¥500 million 15-year notes.

Yesterday was another solid day for the yen sector, considering the volatile market conditions. There were 27 trade announcements, with US issuers making up almost 70% of the volume traded. This was mainly down to Walt Disney issuing a ¥100 billion ($831.5 million) note. It goes out to October 2004. The other US names were predominantly from the financial sector. Lehman Brothers Treasury announced two notes, a ¥100.1 million two-month deal, and a ¥101.64 million three-month trade. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Japan and Merrill Lynch went for longer-dated trades. Morgan Stanley's was a ¥1.1 billion 30-year deal, and Merrill Lynch went for a ¥820 million 20-year trade. Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank made its 27th yen trade of 2001. It was a ¥1 billion 10-year deal with Shinkin International as bookrunner. The coupon is fixed at 1.2% for the first year and then has annual step-ups of 0.1% for the duration of its life. It is callable at every coupon payment date, and was swapped back into floating-rate Euribor by the issuer. And Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, the only other public bank issuing yen yesterday, announced a ¥1 billion 20-year note via Merrill Lynch. It had a bullet coupon. Volkswagen Financial Services made two trade announcements. One was for a ¥10 billion one-year note with a final coupon of 0.04%. The other was a ¥20 billion note with the same tenor and same final coupon.

American Honda Finance Corp made its second trade of the year yesterday and just the 10th trade of the year for the Honda group. It was a ¥10 billion ($83.15 million) deal that goes out to October 2004. It was one of seven trades by Japanese issuers, who have recently become the most popular choice for yen investors. Daiwa Securities SMBC Co announced five trades ranging between ¥50.15 million and ¥2.5 billion. They have tenors that range from two months to 20 years. And IBJ International did a ¥3 billion 11-month deal. It pays a final coupon of 0.1%. Kommuninvest I Sverige announced its 115th yen trade of 2001. Credit Lyonnais was the bookrunner and the ¥500 million note pays a coupon of 4% until March 19 2004, and then becomes a power reverse dual currency note with annual call options. The only other local authority issuing notes was Kommunalbanken. It announced two ¥1 billion deals that go out to October 2016 and October 2026. The first was placed through Tokyo-Mitsubishi International, the second via Mizuho. Of the 186 notes Kommunalbanken has issued this year just 13 have been non-yen trades. Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden announced a ¥300 million 12-year note that pays a final coupon of 2%. It is the issuer's 22nd yen note in 2001 and 27th in all currencies. And Svensk Exportkredit did a ¥200 million trade that goes out to October 2031. Its final coupon is 4%.