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Wachovia Corp, a regional US bank holding company, yesterday (Thursday) took advantage of a post-July 4 holiday lull in global bond supply to resurrect a $550m five year deal it had abandoned three weeks ago. The deal, led by Merrill Lynch, carried a 7.45% coupon and was priced at 99.909, to yield 7.472% or 133bp over Treasuries - 2bp tighter than its 135bp area spread talk. The offering was cancelled after Wachovia announced a profit warning in mid-June.

Wachovia Corp, a regional US bank holding company, yesterday (Thursday) took advantage of a post-July 4 holiday lull in global bond supply to resurrect a $550m five year deal it had abandoned three weeks ago. The deal, led by Merrill Lynch, carried a 7.45% coupon and was priced at 99.909, to yield 7.472% or 133bp over Treasuries - 2bp tighter than its 135bp area spread talk. The offering was cancelled after Wachovia announced a profit warning in mid-June.

Belgium Lead arranger ABN Amro has brought in BBL/ING, Fortis, KBC and Sumitomo Bank to each underwrite Eu750m tickets on the Eu6bn loan for Belgian brewer Interbrew.

Supply from the German cable sector continues to loom over the high yield market, with Merrill Lynch due to start premarketing a $555m equivalent bond transaction from E-Kabel LLC next week. E-Kabel LLC is raising the financing after its acquisition of a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom's cable TV network in the Hesse region. The deal follows a similar financing from Callahan Nordrhein Westphalen (CNW), which issued $775m equivalent of bonds via Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney at the end of June.

Market report: Compiled by Frank Hracs, TD Securities, Toronto

Issuance is on a par with a record 1999, despite a slow start to the year. But, as Philip Moore discovers, more interesting are the changes in the type of issuers coming to the market In theory, the outlook for the issuance of European convertibles has never been better. On the one hand, supply of new issuance should be driven by continued M&A activity, corporate restructuring, fundraising from new economy companies and a more benign fiscal environment.

Mandated lead arranger Citibank underlined its position as corporate Finland's leading arranger of bank debt this week with the launch of the general syndication of the Eu1.7bn acquisition finance facility for Metsa-Serla Oy - the largest syndicated loan to be raised in the country. The loan is structured into two tranches. Tranche 'A' is a Eu1bn 364 day revolver while tranche 'B' is a 700m five year revolver. Both tranches are priced at an initial margin of 50bp over Libor, which can step up to a high of 70bp based on the borrower's ratings. The commitment fee is 33% of the margin on the 364 day tranche and 50% of the longer dated facility.

Mandated lead arranger Citibank underlined its position as corporate Finland's leading arranger of bank debt this week with the launch of the general syndication of the Eu1.7bn acquisition finance facility for Metsa-Serla Oy - the largest syndicated loan to be raised in the country. The loan is structured into two tranches. Tranche 'A' is a Eu1bn 364 day revolver while tranche 'B' is a 700m five year revolver. Both tranches are priced at an initial margin of 50bp over Libor, which can step up to a high of 70bp based on the borrower's ratings. The commitment fee is 33% of the margin on the 364 day tranche and 50% of the longer dated facility.

CAISSE Nationale des Caisses d'Epargne et de Prévoyance (CNCEP) has mandated Deutsche Bank to arrange a Eu10bn medium term note programme. The programme will be a multi-currency facility, and replaces a programme set up in 1994, which was never used. Signing is expected in September.

A brace of other notable landmark deals from new economy borrowers came in February when, for the first time, companies listed on the Neuer Markt raised funding via the equity market. Although some sections of the press appeared to be confused as to which of the two came first, at HypoVereinsbank in Munich head of equity linked sales Günther Bonk is adamant that the Eu75m convertible led by his bank for Augusta Technologie nipped into the market first. The Augusta transaction was followed within hours by a Eu400m convertible - increased from an originally targeted Eu300m - launched by the German media company, EM.TV, via WestLB Panmure. Bonk says that he was delighted with the international response to the Augusta deal, which was eventually offered with a 4% coupon and a premium at the top of its bookbuilding range of between 17.5% and 22.5%. "It went very well because Augusta has such an excellent equity story to tell," says Bonk. "It is a holding company with nine subsidiaries, each of which is profitable, and eight of which operate with return on equity (ROE) levels of more than 15%." It was this strength which prompted HypoVereinsbank to give Augusta an implied rating of BB+, although Bonk adds that in part this reflected the company's small market capitalisation. On the basis of pure fundamentals, he says, Augusta would be a BBB credit.