Latest articles from Edward Russell-Walling

Diversifying move pays off

July 4, 2005

Compagnie de Financement Foncier is making fast progress in its plans to raise €12bn this year. Its $1bn short-dated issue, aimed at diversifying the investor base, appealed strongly to Asian central banks, Edward Russell-Walling reports.
Asian investors feel increasingly at ease with covered bonds and are developing quite an appetite for the product, as Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) was delighted to discover with its recent $1bn three-year offering.

Decade of daring deals puts DrKW in pole position

June 6, 2005

This year is the 10th anniversary of the jumbo pfandbrief. Famous for its security, its past is more chequered than you would imagine. Edward Russell-Walling talks to Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which has been a top three player since the market started.

Dutch play longer instruments

June 6, 2005

The Dutch State Treasury Agency has responded quickly to increased demand for longer dated bonds to boost liquidity, Edward Russell-Walling reports.
The long end of the bond market is receiving more attention from issuers than it has done for some years.

Leave them wanting more

May 2, 2005

Edward Russell-Walling reports on what is likely to be Sampo Bank’s last conventional bond issue before it enters the covered bond market.
It was a case of April showers in the bond markets, as the General Motors downgrade dampened investor enthusiasm for non-government issues.
Finland’s Sampo Bank stayed out of the wet, however, with a nicely judged €500m offering that was nearly twice oversubscribed.

BNG moves into new pastures

April 4, 2005

Growing funding needs led Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten to shift its focus from the retail to the institutional market. Edward Russell-Walling reports on this and the bank’s strategic benchmark programme.

Barcap strengthens reputation with pioneering VTB deal

April 4, 2005

Barclays Capital confirms its presence in Russia’s bond markets with its role as joint bookrunner in the country’s first ever public issue of subordinated debt.
Edward Russell-Walling reports.

JP Morgan finds a solution that Bites

March 7, 2005

In a highly complex equity and debt transaction for Allianz, JP Morgan reworked instruments called Miles to devise a more flexible way for the insurer to deleverage its unwanted equity holdings. As Edward Russell-Walling reports, the solution was found when the two firms put their heads together.

KfW innovates with equity-linked bond

March 7, 2005

Germany’s KfW is once again breaking new ground, this time with an uridashi exchangeable bond. Edward Russell-Walling explains.
The word ‘unique’ is often used less than scrupulously. Yet as banks go, Germany’s state-owned Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) really is one of a kind. As a vehicle for the country’s economic and social policy, it has become the largest financial issuer in Europe.

Complex operation leaves insurer in rude health

February 2, 2005

HSBC financial institutions group’s capital-raising transaction for health insurer Bupa was complicated – but that did not faze the team in its efforts to coax bondholders out of old stock and into the new, writes Edward Russell-Walling.

As safe as houses

February 2, 2005

Edward Russell-Walling examines the move by HBOS to create a social housing covered bond and its attractiveness to European investors.Any half-decent treasury textbook warns of the need for diversification of funding sources. Few advise the creation of a new asset class, although that has not discouraged HBOS. Last December, the bank carved out new territory in the sterling debt market with a £3bn programme of covered bonds secured on loans to housing associations. Enter stage left the “social housing covered bond”, a hitherto unknown species of debt.

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