Search results for

Elf Aquitaine added new sparkle to an already bubbling French primary equity market this week when it announced plans for one of the largest corporate secondary share offerings on record.

Vedior, the acquisitive temporary employment services company, is to join the line-up of Dutch companies tapping the international equity markets to finance acquisitions. The firm plans to launch a Dfl 1bn equity deal to support its £1.145bn acquisition of Select Appointments in the UK. The bid is being financed with a Dfl 3.5bn bridge loan facility arranged by ING Bank. ING Barings and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter will lead the equity offering, which will repay the bridge and will be launched as soon as the offer is successful.

Regus Business Centres, the largest provider of serviced offices in the world, has launched its flotation on the London Stock Exchange via global co-ordinator and bookrunner Merrill Lynch. The transaction should result in a float worth £250m-£300m, putting a market capitalisation on the group of around £1bn. All the shares being sold are new capital for the group, although the 15% greenshoe - if required - will be provided by shares held by the company's venture capital investors.

Rheinische Hypothekenbank won plaudits this week for its responsible approach in launching a Eu2bn five year global jumbo Pfandbrief, keeping the size digestible in the difficult market and avoiding the heavily supplied long end of the curve. Following on from Allgemeine Hypothekenbank's Eu5bn transaction of last week - which continues to trade well and attract buyers - Rheinhyp's deal has restored some confidence in the jumbo market after fears that oversupply and overambitious mortgage banks might push the market over the edge.

Rheinische Hypothekenbank won plaudits this week for its responsible approach in launching a Eu2bn five year global jumbo Pfandbrief, keeping the size digestible in the difficult market and avoiding the heavily supplied long end of the curve. Following on from Allgemeine Hypothekenbank's Eu5bn transaction of last week - which continues to trade well and attract buyers - Rheinhyp's deal has restored some confidence in the jumbo market after fears that oversupply and overambitious mortgage banks might push the market over the edge.

ARRANGERS ABN Amro and Merrill Lynch will wrap up the co-arranging phase of the controversial $3bn credit backing VNU's acquisition of Nielson over the next few days. Some six banks, thought to be Abbey National Treasury Services, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Fortis, ING and Rabobank, have already joined, committing $500m each. Banks have already been scaled back to $375m - $25m below original targets. At least one further bank is to join by the middle of next week, thereby further reducing commitments.

A resurgence in Eurodollar issuance characterised the market this week as swap and bond spreads continued to widen, allowing prime issuers to tap the market at historically wide levels. Denmark provided investors with the rare opportunity to put pure sovereign debt onto their books with a $500m six year bond via Goldman Sachs. The deal benefited from the kingdom's recent upgrade to triple-A by Moody's.

A resurgence in Eurodollar issuance characterised the market this week as swap and bond spreads continued to widen, allowing prime issuers to tap the market at historically wide levels. Denmark provided investors with the rare opportunity to put pure sovereign debt onto their books with a $500m six year bond via Goldman Sachs. The deal benefited from the kingdom's recent upgrade to triple-A by Moody's.

Freddie Mac has adopted a new marketing strategy for its Reference Note programme in a bid to provide more transparency to its product and to expand its international investor base. Freddie Mac announced in July that it would adopt a regular issuance calendar for its five and 10 year reference note programme, with the 10 year deals to be issued in March and September. The first 10 year deal in the calendar will be launched shortly - a $4bn issue has been mandated to Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.