Search results for

Australia Westpac Banking Corp launched a £300m floating rate note (FRN) into the euro markets this week. The FRN, which was joint lead managed by HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, has a five year maturity, and a coupon of 10bp over sterling Libor.

Australia Australian Magnesium (AMC) is expected to emerge with the next large share offering from Australia. It has hired ABN Amro, JB Were and Merrill Lynch to sell $680m of new shares as part of a funding package for its Stanwell light metals project in central Queensland. Along with the debt facilities, the total funding is likely to be about A$1.7bn.

Merrill Lynch and Nomura Securities are finding the going tough as joint lead managers and bookrunners for the sale of 3,072,000 tracking shares in Sony Communications Network Corp (SCN), a Sony subsidiary. This will be Japan's first ever tracking stock and is a purely domestic offering. It should raise around $100m. However, although the Japanese retail market will buy, largely due to the Sony name, institutions remain wary of internet related stocks.

Kumgang Korea Chemical is planning to enter the international debt capital market with a $100m global 144A bond issue. The Korean company will be an unusual regional entrant into the market, specialising in paint production and building construction materials such as interior decoration, heat insulation material and safety glass. The company intends to conduct a roadshow for the public, fixed rate bond issue next week, said market officials familiar with the corporate. JP Morgan has been mandated as sole lead manager.

Members' Equity Pty Ltd, the Australian non-bank mortgage originator and servicer, plans to launch a securitisation in the Euro/144A market today (Friday). The $582m deal, lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), is Members' Equity's first international offering since June last year, when the same bank brought the issuer's cross-border debut.

Merrill Lynch raised ¥83.12bn for Sanwa Bank on Tuesday through the sale of in-the-money preference shares convertible into shares of UFJ Holdings, the holding company for the merged Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Toyo Trust & Banking. Toyo Trust & Banking originally issued the convertible preference shares to Sanwa in March 1999. That issue was at par, had a maturity of August 1, 2014, raised ¥80bn, and allowed investors to convert into Toyo stock at ¥710,900 per share. Merrill Lynch has resold them for Sanwa through this 144A/Reg.S transaction.

The Mirvac Group of Australian property trusts completed its A$500m securitisation this week - a deal that is more than twice as large as any previous commercial property backed issue in Australia. The transaction is backed by a diverse portfolio of 26 properties, valued by Standard & Poor's (S&P) at A$1.25bn, which include office, industrial, retail, hotel and car parking assets.

* AIG SunAmerica Institutional Funding II Rating: Aaa/AAA

Pemex took advantage of a strong high grade US bond market yesterday (Thursday) to re-open its 9.125% 2010 bond issue first launched in October for another $500m, taking the deal to $1bn. The re-opening, led by Lehman Brothers, was priced aggressively at 102.648 to yield 8.702%, or 328bp over Treasuries, in the middle of the 325bp-350bp spread talk announced on Wednesday. The spread is 25bp back from Mexico's 2010 globals and 33bp wide of the more widely used benchmark 2011 global bond.

After an absence of over two years, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) looks set to return to the international debt capital market and could be followed by state utility National Power Corp (Napocor)with an international bond issue. Bankers believe PLDT has selected Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and HSBC to lead manage a $500m international bond issue, while Napocor has issued requests for proposal (RFP) for a potential $100m-$400m three year issue.

* Vorarlberger Landes- und Hypothekenbank Guarantor: Deficiency guarantee from Land Vorarlberg

Finland UPM-Kymmene is thought to be taking bids on a Eu2.5bn facility. Several banks are circling the mandate, which is backing the company's planned purchase of Germany's largest paper maker Haindl. The acquisition will make the company Europe's largest producer of publication papers - UPM will have a 26% share of the European magazine paper market and a 20% share of the newsprint market.