Hybrid capital has been hailed as the Next Big Thing – but is it just hype? No, say enthusiasts, who believe the market can only expand. Yes, say doubters, who warn it is not for everyone. 

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.

ABN AMRO has established a new market in its home country with the launch of Holland’s first structured covered bond.By Edward Russell-Walling.

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.

Slough Estates faced a few hurdles in its plans to replace old bonds with current-value new bonds. But, as Edward Russell-Walling recounts, the investors recognised a good deal when they saw it.

Lloyds TSB has risen to dominate the UK syndicated loan market since Chris Shawyer became its capital markets chief but he admits it will be tough to stay at the top, writes Edward Russell-Walling.