Poor credit perceptions and a large issuance were the challenges facing Deutsche Bank, which advised ATC on a two-tranche THB12bn ($307m) note offering.
ATC suffered severely in the Asia crisis of 1997 and was perceived to be a weak credit company in need of restructuring. Delicate rating advice was needed to ensure optimal rating and credit enhancement. The biggest challenge, however, was selling the THB12bn issuance BBB+ credit to institutional investors in light of the fact that most major bond deals in Thailand had been issued by blue-chips.
The deal was large for the Thai market, being the biggest private placement in 2003. The deal was also the biggest corporate bond deal ever offered to institutional investors.
Indicative of its success, ATC’s deal sparked various refinancing initiatives for other recovering credit companies to compete for capital market funding.
