Search results for

THE PHILIPPINES National Power Corporation (Napocor) will launch imminently its long-awaited Yankee bond, with roadshows likely to kick off either at the end of next week or beginning of the week after. Bankers said that the state owned group is hoping to take advantage of the positive sentiment generated by the recent global bond from the Republic of the Philippines, which has continued to feed through into strong secondary market trading.

* Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London this week suffered a blow to its ambitions of building one of the world's leading emerging market debt franchises with the loss of Jonathan Brown, director of its emerging market bond syndicate to arch rivals JP Morgan. In his new role Brown will report to Richard Luddington, global head of emerging market debt syndicate. JP Morgan is one of an elite group of investment banks that can truly claim to be a global player in the emerging market debt sector. Brown's recruitment will boost the bank's already impressive pedigree.

Arrangers of the £1.6bn debt facilities backing Great Universal Stores' (GUS) planned acquisition of Argos have signed participating banks into the deal. Merrill Lynch, and not SBC Warburg as reported last week, brought in banks at either the senior underwriter level or senior lead manager level.

* Caisse Française de Développement (CFD) Guarantor: Republic of France

* PNC Bank NA Rating: A1/A

Austria Creditanstalt, HSBC and Union Bank of Switzerland have won the coveted mandate to arrange a Asch7.5bn project finance facility for Connect Austria, the consortium developing Austria's DCS 1800 network. Connect is owned by TeleNor, Tele Danmark, Viag and Orange. The deal is in due diligence and the arrangers expect to launch financing later in the second quarter. France

9192

* Paribas has been mandated for the ratings advisory and lead management mandate for the debut Eurobond for the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The French bank has won out against competition from Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Nomura, and UBS, whittled down from an original group of 14 bidders.

* Paribas has been mandated for the ratings advisory and lead management mandate for the debut Eurobond for the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. The French bank has won out against competition from Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Nomura, and UBS, whittled down from an original group of 14 bidders.

Market report Compiled by Gerard Perrignon, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

* International Finance Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

* Instituto de Crédito Oficial Guarantor: Kingdom of Spain