To finance its acquisition of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, BNP Paribas raised two tranches of Tier 1 capital, switching one from the dollar market to sterling in a wise move. By Edward Russell-Walling.For those who doubted that European cross-border bank consolidation could happen any time soon, BNP Paribas is the latest to test their non-belief.
Investors have been crying out for long-dated paper to match their liabilities but until recently the US Treasury declined to oblige. Once it had thrown its hat into the ring, Merrill Lynch spotted an opportunity for European Investment Bank. Edward Russell-Walling reports.
The lack of a rating failed to prevent massive retail interest in the auto maker’s assortment of bonds, writes Edward Russell-Walling.Drivers love the cars – and investors positively adore the stock. For Porsche, which recently came to market with three large bond issues, these two facts are not unconnected.
Two South African firms have launched successful high-yield debt issues. Edward Russell-Walling reports.When South African corporates want to raise capital, the international bond market is not the first place they go looking. For most of them, it would quite literally be the last. But two groundbreaking South African high-yield issues may herald a change in attitude.
When the share price of French media technology group Thomson dropped, it decided a hybrid structure was its best funding option. Its chief treasurer tells Edward Russell-Walling why.The new market in hybrid capital for corporates continues to win converts. One of the latest is Thomson, the French media technology group.
Investors are falling over themselves to buy bonds issued by Russia’s state-owned Gazprombank. Edward Russell-Walling explains why.Russian banks are not always synonymous with credit quality. When Gazprombank came to market in September with a 10-year bond, however, the issue was more than six times oversubscribed. There are Russian banks, and Russian banks.
Bank of America is always interested in diversification, leading it to do more issues in non-dollar markets. Its team came up with the idea of issuing US trust preferred securities in sterling and achieved upper Tier 2 pricing despite a Tier 1 classification. Edward Russell-Walling finds out how the team did it.
Ford Motor Credit Corp’s downgrade did not put the company on the sidelines. Just a few months later, it came back to market with two big deals. Edward Russell-Walling reports.After one of the most seismic downgrades in recent bond market history, Ford Motor Credit Corp (FMCC) might have expected to keep a low profile, at least for a while. Not a bit of it.
CSFB helped UK food producer RHM raise £475m of new capital and £197m of secondary financing through an underwritten IPO. The team tell Edward Russell-Walling how and why they did it.It is strange how the word ‘underwriting’ has come to sound old-fashioned, almost Victorian.
Corporates’ historic avoidance of hybrid capital is giving way to enthusiasm following a change of heart by rating agencies. Now Sweden’s Vattenfall is leading the charge with a groundbreaking deal, structured by Citigroup. Edward Russell-Walling explains.