Search results for

* Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

THE RETAIL market got its first chance this year to buy into a Middle Eastern project finance asset this week when co-ordinating arrangers Apicorp, Credit Suisse First Boston and Paribas launched general syndication on Tuesday of the $475m Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) project financing. For international banks three ticket levels are on offer. Senior lead managers committing $20m receive participation fees of 80bp, lead managers receive 70bp for takes of $15m and managers with $10m receive 60bp. A sell-down was also targeted at regional banks, led by Apicorp, for slightly smaller ticket sizes.

With NOWHERE else to go Sabesp, Brazil's largest water utility, has decided to resort to the local Brazilian bond markets to sell $261m of reais denominated bonds to pay off dollar debt due. The three year bonds will cost 40% a year and will be used to refinance most of a $275m syndicated one year loan due on March 29 that yields only 10.1%.

British Sky Broadcasting surprised the market and showed the pace at which a credit culture is developing in Europe this week when it launched a $600m global bond via Merrill Lynch. Until recently, the thought of a credit such as BSkyB - which is rated Baa2/BBB- with negative outlook from both Moody's and Standard & Poor's - accessing anything other than US investors through the Yankee bond market would not have been considered.

Market commentary: Compiled by Frank Hracs, director of fixed income research, TD Securities, Toronto. Tel: +1 416 982 8785.

Both the euro and the dollar bond markets offered investors the widest range of credits to choose from this week as bankers continued to marvel at the astonishing tone of the major currency sectors in the first few weeks of 1999 and the wide variety of credits tapping them. Emerging market issuers made a welcome return to the international bond markets. Latin issuers continued to search for novel ways to raise funds, with Argentina raising $1bn of bonds with warrants and Pemex a similar amount in bonds linked to oil receivables.