I know it has been a difficult year for bond bankers. Deal flow has been slow, people have been working from their tiny Hong Kong flats and business in general has been poor, especially for my friends looking at the high yield debt market. So I really can’t hold it against my friend for getting excited about the first high yield bond to be seen in the dollar market for some time.
I expected the popping of champagne corks around the office when the deal was completed, but the chap and his team took celebrations to another level. Even the issuer got involved in the fun, making “bonds are back” the tagline for the day.
“Bonds are back” soon morphed into “Bond is back”. After all, are you really a bond banker if you haven’t made a James Bond joke at some point? I confess that I went through a brief phase of drinking Vesper martinis and calling Tai Tai 'Pussy Galore' for this very reason. My team became 'the Bond girls' until our head of HR pulled me aside. I called him 'Dr No'.
Anyway, the CFO at the issuer had his team photoshop his face on to a movie poster, with 'Bond Is Back' in bold letters. The body of Daniel Craig but the face of a Chinese executive, grinning ear to ear in a white tuxedo, black pistol in hand.
The photo was a hoot. The CFO forwarded it to the syndicate teams running the trade, and it made its way to me. I only wish I 'd had that much fun while running the syndicate desk.