Search results for

THE PORTUGUESE government will shortly embark on the fourth phase of its privatisation sale of Portugal Telecom (PT). The operator has been a firm favourite with sector specialists over the last four years, since the group's IPO in the summer of 1995. Lead managers Banco Essi, Merrill Lynch and Warburg Dillon Read will run the deal which involves the state sale of around 13.5% of the group's equity capital - some 25,650,000 shares.

JOINT LEAD managers WestLB Panmure and Warburg Dillon Read have launched a Eu550m convertible bond for Preussag, the German tourism group. The five year bond offers investors indicated terms including a coupon of Bunds less 100bp to 150bp with a conversion premium of 21% to 26%. The notes will be offered to existing shareholders on a pre-emptive basis with one bond for every 323 shares held. The rights will be sold at a subscription price of 98.50 or 23% to 28% at a bookbuilding price of par. The bonds offer investors three years of hard call protection and are callable thereafter at a hurdle of 130%.

THE SALE of stock in Ireland's national telecommunications operator, Telecom Eireann, looks set to be an overwhelming success. Ireland's ministry of public enterprise and global co-ordinators AIB Capital Markets and Merrill Lynch are mid-way through the pre-marketing period and report a very positive response from retail and institutional investors.

* Argentaria Global Finance Ltd Guarantor: Argentaria, Caja Postal y Banco Hipotecario

IT WAS A mixed week for new issues, and many new names found market conditions tough. Several new issues were held back and others were forced to revise terms downwards to stay on track. Not even internet stocks were immune to the mixed mood on Wall Street. Merrill Lynch delayed the flotation for Interliant which was originally expected last week. The company hosts a variety of sites on the internet, and is trying to raise funds to expand its business.

GLOBAL co-ordinators Goldman Sachs and ING Barings this week launched the public offer of stock in Libertel, the second largest mobile telecoms company in the Netherlands. The vendor is ING Groep, which is divesting a 22.5% stake in the company. The deal is expected to be well received by investors and will be one of the largest IPOs of the year, bringing much needed liquidity to the Amsterdam market. Dutch corporates have been unwilling to tap their market in the past few months, deterred by the underlying volatility.

CSFB AND MPS are marketing stock in Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) following the approval this week of the deal by Consob, the Italian stock exchange authority. The Italian bank - the world's oldest - is being floated in a deal that could raise as much as Eu2.1bn.

NATIONAL Bank of Greece is to raise between $250m and $500m through a convertible bond offering to be launched in the next two weeks. Merrill Lynch and Warburg Dillon Read will act as bookrunners on the offering. The deal has been mooted for some time and will be the first equity linked issue from Greece since the privatisation bonds in 1998. The notes are likely to be sovereign bonds backed by ordinary shares in National Bank of Greece, a structure that analysts this week hailed as the ideal way to attract investors interested in Greek bank stocks.

OLIVETTI launched its record breaking corporate bond yesterday (Thursday) following Consob approval for a Eu1.5bn increase aimed at satisfying the many orders placed during the bookbuilding process. But with Eu11bn of demand, the allocation process caused nerves to fray as the lead managers - Chase, DLJ, Lehman Brothers and Mediobanca - ruthlessly cut back orders.

11847

IN THE continued absence of new swap driven, dollar denominated bonds, swap spreads meandered this week. Interbank trading was erratic and illiquid. By Thursday, the 10 year swap mid-market level was around 79.5bp while the five year mid-market was about 65.5bp. These levels are fractionally softer than a week ago. The dollar new issue market has been largely uneventful for several weeks and the underlying tone is still far from propitious. While swap spreads were largely unchanged this week, secondary spreads in the US corporate market are about 4bp wider. This development further restricts arbitrage into floating rate funds for US names.

11928