Search results for

Royal Ascot is over and the last house guest has gone. The wine cellar has taken a pounding but the 1,400 bottle capacity ensures that we will not go thirsty. The guests seemed to have a wonderful time in the beautiful weather. We noticed that none of the house guests boasted about their winnings at the races and we can therefore assume that the bookmakers were the only ones not sweating. Ever since a horse which we were backing fell in a flat race we have confined our speculations to the stockmarket. We will not miss the helicopters almost permanently overhead and just before you ask, we never again saw the stretch limo with the dazzling eastern European hostesses which tried to open for business at the bottom of our drive. "More's the pity," commented our male visitors. But while the ladies at Ascot delighted the eye with their stunning outfits, it was business almost as usual in the Euromarkets and behind the scenes the major players were jostling for position. The summer holiday season is barely a month away. The main investment banks want to close a few more deals before scarpering off to sun-drenched five star beaches. No wonder that the attendants at the Euromoney Borrowers and Investors Forum were besieged with offers to be wined and dined in London's most expensive restaurants and clubs. For the time being debt is king, and the major borrowers, even with slightly iffy credit ratings, can call the tune. What a change this makes from the situation for most of the last three years when bond specialists were treated as second-class citizens who had to bow whenever they met their social superiors from equities or investment banking.

Barclays, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (joint bookrunner), Goldman Sachs (joint bookrunner) and HSBC will launch the Eu3.5bn acquisition financing for Gallaher to sub-underwriters. The deal supports tobacco group Gallaher's purchase of Austria Tabac from OIAG, the Austrian state holding company after the company accepted an offer of Eu85 per share for its 41.3% stake in the company. Gallaher will now make an equivalent offer to the remaining shareholders, thereby valuing the company at Eu1.87bn.

France Telecom has upped the debt ceiling off its euro27.5 billion ($23.66 billion) Euro-MTN programme to euro30 billion.

Great Belt has closed a $76.54 million three-year zero coupon note. The payment date is July 6 and the note will be swapped over to floating 3m Euribor. The trade was lead managed by UBS Warburg. Rolf Ohlsom, assistant treasurer at Great Belt, says: "When it comes to funding, the currency doesn't really matter. We swap everything into Danish krone or euro anyway."

* Linde Finance BV Guarantor: Linde AG

Banca Intesa is to sign a euro10 billion ($860.52 million) Euro-MTN programme today. Deutsche Bank and Caboto - Gruppo Intesa are joint-arrangers. The dealer panel is ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, Caboto - Gruppo Intesa, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole Indosuez, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Banca IntesaBci, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg. This marks a trend for Italian issuers to appoint large panels, following Telecom Italia's 15 dealers this year, UniCredito Italiano's 14 dealers and Edison's 17 dealers last year. Banca Intesa planned to sign the programme earlier this year, but it postponed the signing due to its merger with Banca Commerciale Italiana.

KPN spreads remained volatile this week after the Dutch telco dispelled hopes of a Eu5.5bn rights issue to reduce its debt. Over the past fortnight, spreads on KPN's outstanding bonds had been tightening as market expectations grew. But the bonds gave up most of those gains on Monday after the company said it did not plan a rights issue. KPN said it would focus on forging an alliance with another player in the European market.

Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz has closed a $15 million callable trade via ABN Amro. The trade is callable after the first year and during the first year interest will have a floating rate, linked to 6m US$ Libor+50 basis points. If the trade is not called, the floating rate will become fixed rate. Frank Parensen, Landesbank Rheinland Pfalz's funding officer, says: "We've done quite a few of these callables this year - driven by investor demand. I think the investors are mostly out of Asia - mainly Japan. We have already done 51 issues this year, raising $6.5 billion. We have between $3 billion and $4 billion still to do this year."

Bahrain Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) has awarded seven banks the mandate to arrange a $100m loan.

Nationwide Building Society (Nationwide) has issued a £

AIG Financial Products has hired Jeffrey Robbins, ceo of derivatives boutique First Chicago Tokio Marine Financial Products in Tokyo, and a 15-year veteran of First Chicago/Bank One, as managing director, marketing in Tokyo. In this new position Robbins is responsible for marketing the firmÕs structured financial products. AIG FP likely will expand the operation with additional hires, Robbins noted, declining to elaborate.

* Bank of Nova Scotia Rating: Aa3/A+/AA-