Search results for

Dollar swap spreads continued to narrow sharply this week. At close yesterday (Thursday), the 10 year market was at 67bp over Treasuries while the five year market was at 76bp over. At the long end of the curve, swaps to Treasuries trade at 49bp. These prices are between 4bp and 6bp tighter than a week ago. Swap spreads mushroomed after the events of September 11, but have subsequently tightened to lower levels than before the terrorist attacks.

Dow Chemical Company signed a euro2 billion ($2.95 billion) Euro-MTN programme on Wednesday September 26. Deutsche Bank arranged the programme and the dealer panel comprises ABN Amro, Credit Suisse First Boston, JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, UBS Warburg and the arranger. The issuer has mandated Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan as lead managers of the inaugural public deal. Moody's rates Dow Chemical Company A1 and Standard & Poor's rates it slightly lower at A.

Triple-A rated utility Electricité de France (EdF) will be in Paris today (Friday) to roadshow its long dated euro benchmark, which is set to attract strong support from a European investor base keen to buy utility paper. The sector is being seen as a defensive play by investors looking for safety in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US and the likelihood of a sharper slowdown in the global economy.

Bulgaria Signing of the Eu10m guarantee facility for the First Investment Bank of Bulgaria has been delayed. The loan was due to be signed this week.

Sightseers in Rome this week may have noticed an influx of a slightly better dressed crowd than the usual backpacking fraternity, given the bank meetings being held there yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) to mark the launch to general syndication of the loans for Wind and Endesa Italia. The key similarities between the two credits would appear to end with the choice of venue for the meetings, the nationality of the borrowers, and omnipresent energy company Enel.

Although liberalisation in central and eastern Europe is driven by the need to join the EU as soon as possible, utility sector reform in the region can be slow. But, while governments remain reluctant to sell off core assets, restructuring and IPOs have opened up acquisition targets to foreign predators. And those utilities that can shake off state support may also help to shake up the sector. Laurence Knight reports

Argentina * Province of Buenos Aires

International Endesa has increased the debt ceiling off its debt instrument programme from euro7 billion ($6.42 billion) to euro9 billion. It has also added five banks to the appointed dealer panel. They are BBVA, BSCH, Caja Madrid, Banco Espanol de Credito and Invercaixa Valores.

Euro trading continued to be strong as last week drew to a close. Gallaher Group's euro750 million ($684.84 million) trade overshadowed all others in terms of volume. The trade comes just over a week after the issuer raised the ceiling off its MTN programme to £

Euro had its busiest day's trading for some time as 18 notes were closed. There were some lengthy maturities and plenty of high volumes. Triple-A rated Bayerische Landesbank dominated trading with four notes, each for euro250 million ($230.72 million). All four notes are plain vanillas, pay interest quarterly and mature in April 2003. JP Morgan lead-managed the trades. Fellow German issuer, Norddeutsche Landesbank closed a euro10 million note that matures on March 15 2002. The note pays interest singularly and carries a high final coupon of 23.000%. A few issuers closed dual euro trades. Deutsche Bank concluded a euro2.85 million MTN that carries a final coupon of 3.140% and matures on February 7 2002 and a one-year euro15 million note that has a final coupon of 6.200%. Svenska Handelsbanken closed two trades, both for euro250 million. The notes have a tenor of 10 years and were managed by Goldman Sachs. One of the notes is an FRN that carries a coupon of 5.135%. The other note is a FX/FRN hybrid that pays 5.125% annually until December 28 2006. Thereafter the note is calculated as 3m Euribor+2.27%. And Societe Generale Acceptance closed two six-year euro5 million and euro10 million notes. Both notes carry a zero interest payment frequency. Compagnie de Financement Foncier closed both the largest and longest-dated trade - a euro750 million MTN that goes out to October 4 2021. The note has a final coupon of 5.750%. Bipop-Carire is set to issue a 10-year euro400 million note that pays interest quarterly. Vorarlberger Landes- und Hypothekenbank closed a euro22 million note via Goldman Sachs. The note pays interest semi-annually and is a range accrual with a strike of 6.000%. General Motors Acceptance Corp concluded a euro75 million MTN that pays interest singularly and carries a final coupon of 3.721%. And Centauri Corp is to issue a euro20 million note that has a final coupon of 8.250%.

Euro volume was high yesterday, but this was largely down to a euro5 billion ($4.61 billion) note closed by Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (Freddie Mac). The note pays interest annually and carries a final coupon of 5.000%. The note matures on January 15 2012. The only other issuer looking for volume was DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, which closed a euro500 million note that pays interest singularly. The note matures on November 28 2006. Bank of Scotland Treasury closed the shortest-dated trade - a one-year euro95 million FRN that pays interest on a monthly basis. Goldman Sachs was the bookrunner. Britannia Building Society is set to issue a three-year euro10 million MTN via Barclays Capital. The range note has a coupon of Libor+78bp. Fabs Luxembourg I closed two trades for euro50 million and euro15 million. The euro50 million note pays interest singularly and matures on February 15 2003. The five-year euro15 million trade pays interest quarterly. Hamburgische LB Finance (Guernsey) also closed for euro15 million via Caixa Geral de Depositos. The note has a zero coupon. And Lehman Brothers Treasury concluded a 10-year euro15 million MTN. The note pays interest annually and carries a final coupon of 7.600%. Credit Agricole Indosuez was the busiest issuer closing notes for euro16 million, euro16.50 million and euro64.50 million. All the notes have a tenor of five years and pay interest singularly.