Search results for

BANK ONE has reportedly closed a $333 million balance sheet collateralized loan obligation--BOSS 2001-1-- last week. Bankers said the vehicle enables BANK ONE to move senior secured bank loans off its balance sheet, reducing the amount of allocated capital the bank needs to hold against the loans. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment on the transaction, but said, "it is consistent with what they have done in the past."

Barclays Capital is in the process of planning and structuring its first U.S.-based collateralized loan obligation, a cash flow deal with an asset base of at least $400 million in leveraged loans. Elliot Asarnow, global head of research and credit portfolio, said the bank hired Hans Christensen to start up a U.S. leveraged loan investment management business at the end of last month to start structuring the vehicle. Christensen was formerly a portfolio manager at Citigroup. "The first fund will come as an arbitrage cash flow CLO. If you're a manager focused on the U.S. leveraged loan market, that's been the vehicle of choice the last few years," he said.

Tower Holdings (Australia) helped cement the expanding high grade sector of Australian bonds when it launched only the second ever triple-B rated bond to firm investor interest last Friday. The $100m two year transaction was sole lead managed by National Australia Bank (NAB) and was priced at par, with a coupon of 69bp over BBSW. Tower Holdings (Australia) is the Australian arm of the New Zealand insurance company.

Ford Credit Australia Ltd is preparing to launch its second securitisation in Australia backed by auto loan receivables. The Australian arm of the US auto firm hopes to raise A$400m from investors in a four tranche deal through Ford Credit Receivables Trust 2001-1 (FCR Trust).

Swiss commodities group Glencore this week agreed a price range for its forthcoming A$2bn IPO. As reported two weeks ago in EuroWeek, the deal is priced attractively for fund managers and the public alike, featuring low multiples and a high yield. "With global markets in disarray, this is a great defensive stock," said one banker close to the deal. Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank are arranging the transaction.

Australia Standard & Poor's has revised the outlook of the BBB+/A2 rating for chemicals and explosives manufacturer Orica to negative from stable. The agency said that the revision stemmed from an announcement of asset write-downs and a profit warning from Orica this week.

Oil Search shares plunged almost 8.5% after it sold new shares to investors in a placement through UBS Warburg and ABN Amro on Tuesday. The deal represented 15% of its outstanding shares and was at a deep discount to the market price at close on Monday. Oil Search is the largest holder of gas and oil reserves in Papua New Guinea. Oil Search said it raised A$90.9m by selling 86.5m shares at A$1.05 each, or 11% below yesterday's (Thursday) closing price. The company reported that the issue was oversubscribed with allocations to more than 40 institutions on four continents.

Japan Aiful Corp shares rose almost 7% on Tuesday after the Japanese consumer lender priced its new share offer. Successful completion removes some uncertainty surrounding Aiful's financial stability.

ABN Amro has revealed a novel securitisation structure for the Australian market that will offer bonds backed by residential apartments on the waterfront in the Walsh Bay area of Sydney, but which are yet to be built. The A$300.5m deal, launched this week, will provide Mirvac and Transfield, the joint developers of the Walsh Bay Redevelopment Project, with cost effective, limited recourse financing while also offering investors a new class of asset backed securities.

Czech Republic Cesky Telecom (CT) has mandated Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as joint bookrunners and lead managers for its debut euro denominated bond issue. The bond will account for a large chunk of the $1.475bn that CT has agreed to pay for a 49% stake in EuroTel, the largest Czech mobile phone operator. Road-shows are set for September.

Swedish Export Credit (SEK) is set to launch what could be its largest public transaction in September, having awarded Nomura the mandate for a rare benchmark dollar eurobond issue, expected to be for at least $500m. Although SEK is one of the largest MTN issuers in Europe, it has not issued a plain vanilla public dollar benchmark since 1998. The size and maturity of the transaction are yet to be decided. To date, the largest size SEK has issued in dollars is $500m.

* Kommunalbanken AS Rating: Aaa/AAA