Search results for

Australia Syndication of the $2bn, three tranche facility for IP Backbone Co is progressing smoothly, according to arrangers Barclays Capital and Chase Manhattan Asia.

Aventis is to sell its first euro trade off its euro1.5 billion Euro-MTN programme. The euro40 million note will be issued on December 18 and has a two-year tenor. The note, which is private, pays euribor + 7 basis points. The programme was signed on September 20 this year. The drugs manufacturer is the result of the merger of Rhone-Poulenc and Hoechst. It has issued three notes off its MTN programme and will have raised $134.92 million on December 18.

Which houses have managed to place private MTNs for European corporates in 2000?

The UK leveraged loan market will have a challenging start to the next year with several transactions supporting credits in the DIY retail sector already being lined up for launch in January. The deals will give investors a good chance to form their views on supporting leveraged transactions for DIY and retailers in general, but most banks are highly sceptical about the sector's attractiveness to leveraged product.

HSBC has made sure it deserves its Christmas break by doing a batch of five-year dollar deals for issuers that include Britannia Building Society, Irish Life and Permanent and Nationwide Building Society. The $5.35 million deals are all vanilla trades. Britannia Building Society's tranche offers USDLibor+5. Jeremy Helme, treasury sales manager at Britannia, says: "We will consider all sorts of structure as long as they are not too complex," and he adds that this is unlikely to be the issuer's last trade of the year.

Two property companies are signing MTN programmes in a bid to improve their funding opportunities in the Euro- and domestic markets. The new signings add weight to the view that the MTN platform of issuance is a popular funding option for companies in the property industry. Sun Hung Kai Properties is the largest property group in Hong Kong and the first company listed there to sign a Euro-MTN programme. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter arranges the $500 million facility, off which forthcoming issues will be in a variety of currencies and will have maturities of up to 30 years. Dealers expect the first deal off the facility to hit the market in the coming weeks. Joining the arranger in the dealer group is Banque Nationale de Paris, Chase Manhattan, HSBC, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, SG and Warburg Dillon Read. The borrower has spent this week in London roadshowing to both dealers and investors. Although market participants may expect similar borrowers to have non-investment grade status, this one holds a good A3 rating from Moody's. Meanwhile, General Property Trust (GPT) signed a domestic A$1 billion ($645.80 million) short-term note and MTN programme. Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the arranger. In the MTN dealer group are Bankers Trust Australia, Merrill Lynch Australia, Westpac Banking Corporation and the arranger. GPT is rated double-A long-term and A-1+ short-term by S&P's.

Lloyds TSB and RBC have underwritten a £100m facility for British Polythene Industry (BPI). The facility will be used for working capital and for a 30% share buy-back, by tender offer. The buy-back is to defend the borrower from a hostile bid by plastics and packaging business Macfarlane. The loan could go to further syndication depending on how the takeover bid proceeds. The battle began in September with a £92.3m takeover bid tabled by Macfarlane. The company upped the stakes when it raised its offer and bought 10% of BPI's shares in the market. But shares in BPI rose after the company said, on December 4, that talks with a third party could lead to a cash offer above the 310p a share offered by Macfarlane.

*Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter will manage the IPO of Burberry, the luxury fashion unit of Great Universal Stores (GUS). The deal is tipped to value the unit at around the £2bn marker. The listing is due to take place within the next 18 months. It will let Burberry establish itself as an individual brand. "This would mark a major point in the development of Burberry, and provide transparency for its increasing value within GUS," said GUS chief executive John Peace.

Globals * British Telecommunications plc

John Deere signed a $1 billion global CP programme on Tuesday, February 16 1999 in the names of three issuers: Deere & Company, John Deere Capital Corporation and John Deere Credit Group. John Deere has made occasional appearances in the international capital markets to date. Its last was with a $150 million fixed rate Eurobond in May 1998. Deutsche Bank was bookrunner for the trade and has also been chosen to arrange the CP facility. However, prior to the issue John Deere had not been in the market since 1988. It is best known for making tractors but is also involved in manufacturing other agricultural equipment, construction equipment and both commercial and consumer equipment. There are two dealer groups, one for its USCP and another for its Euro-CP. They comprise Deutsche Bank Securities and Salomon Smith Barney Incorporated, and Citibank International and Deutsche Bank, respectively. The Euro-CP IPA is Citibank and the USCP IPA is US Bank Trust National Association. The programme is rated P-1, A-1 and F1 by Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch IBCA.

* Unilever plc Guarantor: Unilever NV

The Swedish central banking unit, Venantius, has shown that it is as keen as ever on 10-year yen trades, issuing its 27th of the year on December 21. The ¥1 billion ($9.05 million) note has a Bermuda callable fixed-rate step-up structure attached, which increases the initial coupon of 1% by 0.35% each year. The final coupon will be 4.15%. BNP Paribas was the bookrunner. Katarina Lovgren, part of the Euro-MTN team at Venantius, says: "We will be sticking with this type of trade as it is great funding for us. We have done loads of 10-year yen trades this year and although we would like some longer-term funding, because this type of trade is callable after a year it is a good substitute for CP."