Search results for

A HIGHLY successful privatisation of São Paulo electricity distributor CPFL this week failed to raise spirits in Latin America for long, as investors continued to hold back until the Brazilian authorities announce concrete fiscal improvements in the coming week. Latin markets continued to focus on Brazil, with brokers hoping that a successful privatisation of CPFL, along with the announcement of new fiscal reform measures, would boost investor confidence.

Market report Compiled by Gerard Perrignon, Hambros Bank Ltd, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

PRIMARY market activity is already picking up again in Portugal, dispelling fears that the stockmarket's recent volatility would kill off domestic retail support for new equity issues. This week the government launched its privatisation of Brisa-Autostradas de Portugal, the country's toll road operator.

THE KINGDOM of Saudi Arabia is to make a rare foray into the international syndicated loan market to raise a jumbo $4.33bn term facility, Euroweek has learned.

THE KINGDOM of Saudi Arabia is to make a rare foray into the international syndicated loan market to raise a jumbo $4.33bn term facility, Euroweek has learned.

PROOF that quality issues at prudent prices can succeed in volatile markets has been served by the success of the privatisation of Austria Tabakwerke, the country's tobacco monopoly. Despite last week's highly unsettled conditions and the controversial nature of the tobacco sector, the issue was brought to a successful climax at the end of last week by lead managers Creditanstalt and Goldman Sachs.

BBL WILL issue the first Belgian collateralised loan obligation through JP Morgan as soon as market conditions allow. A BBL official said: "The deal is 99% complete from a technical point of view, and we will be watching the market closely over the coming days and weeks.

THE FIRST credit card master trust based wholly in the UK made its debut in the securitisation markets this week. The Opus Master Receivables Trust has been established by HFC Bank to securitise income on the credit cards it issues in the UK. Opus Series 1 plc, lead managed by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, offered £132m of triple-A rated class 'A' notes at a fixed re-offer price of 99.92 to yield 12bp over three month Libor on a 10bp coupon.

NOMURA has sold 845 UK public houses from its Phoenix Inns portfolio to Grovebase Properties Ltd, removing the need for it to launch another securitisation at this stage. Phoenix Inns Ltd was set up by Nomura's principal finance group in January 1995 to manage 1,801 pubs bought from Inntrepreneur Estates. The pubs are free to buy beer from any brewery.

JOINT bookrunners Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter brought a jumbo securitisation of US student loans for Sallie Mae this week, in response to a reverse enquiry. The banks would not comment on the identity of the investor or small group of investors behind the deal, but said that all the senior bonds were preplaced.

* Standard & Poor's has downgraded Sumitomo Bank's long term rating from A to A-, and its short term rating from A-1 to A-2, following the bank's announcement that it will make a $3.6bn loss this fiscal year, due to defaulted Japanese loans.

The planned mergers between Bayerische Vereinsbank and Bayerische Hypothekenbank -- and, even more dramatically, between Krupp and Thyssen -- have sent shockwaves through the German financial and industrial sectors. Many predict a wave of takeovers in Europe's most M&A-averse market as whole sectors undergo rationalisation and as the leading players seek to generate cost savings, improve their competitiveness and raise their return on equity. It will not happen overnight. In a country where M&A -- like privatisation -- is synonymous with job cuts, such moves will encounter fierce resistance from workers, while there are also formidable legal obstacles to certain forms of Anglo-Saxon style takeovers. But change is in the air. And no one doubts that the German corporate and financial landscape will alter drastically over the coming years.