Search results for

Yves Leysen has joined Bear Stearns as head of debt corporate finance for Europe. He was a senior figure at BNP Paribas, having been head of global derivatives marketing at the old Banque Paribas. His is the latest in a series of senior debt market hires to Bear Stearns' London office. Leysen will be responsible for origination and syndication of debt derivative products. He reports to former colleague Michel Péretié and to Jeremy Sillem, chair of Bear Stearns International Ltd, the Wall Street bank's London subsidiary. Péretié is a senior managing director and heads fixed income for Europe and Asia.

Lithuanian Telecom is looking to issue a Llt100-Llt200m ($25m-$50m) three year Eurobond in early February, having mandated Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Vilniaus Bankas and Suprema Securities as joint leads, with Deutsche Bank as senior co-lead. It will be the first corporate bond issued in litas and eligible for Euroclear's settlement system. It follows the Republic of Lithuania's Llt100m five year bond issue led by JP Morgan in October, which was the first genuine Baltic currency Eurobond.

Merck & Co. has dropped BNP Paribas and UBS Warburg as dealers from its $1.5 billion debt instrument issuance programme. Although the programme was signed three years ago it has yet to issue any debt.

Abu Dhabi The senior phase of syndication on the $1.015bn project financing for the Taweelah A1 power generation and sea water desalination project has been signed.

Moody's Investors Service placed Royal KPN's A3 senior unsecured debt rating and Baa1 subordinated long term debt ratings on review for possible downgrade on Wednesday, citing concern that KPN's debt levels could be higher in 2001 than previously anticipated. The market had anticipated the rating action. "The rating agencies are dealing with an industry wide issue," said Tom Crawley, head of European credit research at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, "but KPN is the most vulnerable company out of the whole sector.

Warning noises are being increasingly heard from financial regulators over the levels of exposure of banks within the telecoms sector. Within the past week, two UK bodies with regulatory duties- the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England - have issued statements highlighting their anxieties over the level of lending by the markets to telecoms firms.

* JP Morgan Chase is poised to announce the names of its syndicate team in London. Sjoerd Leenart from JP Morgan is tipped to head the desk and is expected to be joined by Ryan O'Grady, also from JP Morgan. Simon Crisp, previously syndicate head at Chase, has left the firm but Hugo Varney and David Cross will remain.

INTRODUCTION: This month MTNWeek conducted an informal survey of MTN issuers and dealers and asked one simple question: "Which website do you find has the most useful coverage of MTNs?" The result was unanimous, with one dealer representing the whole market when he replied: "I didn't know there were any websites with any EMTN coverage." The growing number of people who have set up internet sites dedicated to providing information about Euro-MTNs should be worried about this ignorance. All of these new sites are reliant on the MTN community for customers. Some of the sites are no more than news providers, some have ambitions to be fully fledged trading platforms. In the feature on the next page we examine what these sites can offer to MTN dealers, issuers and investors. And we ask which are the ones most likely to survive. In the second feature we take a close look at the two houses which have been brave enough to launch web-based trading platforms. UBS Warburg launched its system just over a year ago and has had plenty of time to grow from pioneer to market leader. But how much progress has it actually made? mtn.com also assesses the challenge posed by BNP Paribas' site which was launched in October and promises to offer structures online. How soon will it be before all the other houses join the fray? And is the next logical step a joint-venture between all the top MTN dealers, offering a co-mingled trading platform? mtn.com promises to act as a guide for all those floundering in the rough waters of MTNs online and gives insights into the complex world of MTNs and the internet. And it seems an apt time to announce that MTNWeek will soon launch mtnweek.com. In the same way that MTNWeek has become the authoritative publication for the market, mtnweek.com aims to become the benchmark online news service for market participants. *** For more information about this mini-supplement, or if you are interested in advertising in MTNWeek's next supplement, please contact Francoise Lavergne on +44 20 7440 6436. ***

Egypt Bankers are still waiting to hear from the Arab Republic of Egypt about its debut $500m-$1bn bond issue. Bankers from Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and CSFB/Schroder Salomon Smith Barney were in Cairo last weekend pitching for the mandate, having been shortlisted from the original 19 banks bidding. The tenor of the deal is still uncertain, but it will likely be either five years or 10 years, or a combination of the two, say bankers.

London-based Moscow Narodny Bank signed a $250 million Euro-MTN programme on December 15 2000 via UBS Warburg. Andy Skelton, group treasurer at the issuer, believes that they will not issue under the programme until the end of the first quarter. He says: "We will be looking to attract emerging market funds, mainly in Europe. We are most likely going to look initially at maturities of three years, issuing in dollars or euros but in most cases in dollars as it is our primary currency." The bank is 88.9% owned by the Central Bank of Russia but has been based in London since 1919 and is regulated by the English Financial Services Authority. It is rated BB by Fitch, and thus makes it one of the few non-investment grade borrowers to join the market in 2000. UBS Warburg is the only dealer alongside the issuer itself, but Skelton says: "Once we have done our roadshows we will be looking to expand our dealer panel."

Finland Frequency converter manufacturer Vacon managed to complete its Eu39m IPO this week, after having to extend the bookbuilding period, cut the range and price at the bottom of the new spread range. The company issued 4.868m shares, with a greenshoe of 674,000 shares, at Eu7.