Search results for

THE KOREAN Development Bank (KDB) returned to the international debt markets after an absence of 18 months yesterday (Thursday) when it launched a $1bn global bond -- the success of which is already being seen as a potent symbol of the renewed fervour with which investors are now approaching Asian credits. Compared to its last aborted attempt to raise funds in December 1997 at the height of the Korean liquidity crisis, the Baa3/BBB- KDB could not have picked a more auspicious moment to launch its five year deal this time round.

ACTIVITY appears to be picking up in the Australian equity markets following a slow first quarter, as the global mania for internet-related stocks is helping to fuel a rising ASX and privatisation activity continues in some states. Merrill Lynch is believed to have been appointed lead manager for the forthcoming A$200m-A$250m IPO of PBL Online -- this week renamed ecorp.

MERRILL Lynch and Hyundai Securities gave another boost to Korea's sharp recovery in the capital markets at the end of last week when they completed the $400m GDR offering for Shinhan Bank. The focus of the Korea turnaround story will now turn to Korea Telecom, which is readying its $1bn-plus IPO for imminent launch via Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

JARDINE Fleming completed a successful $74m placement of new Keppel Corp shares on Wednesday but investors, puzzled by the industrial conglomerate's new acquisition, added to a sell-off the following day driven mainly by short sellers. A total of 25.3m shares were sold at S$4.9728, a 2.5% discount to Wednesday's close. Shares closed down 8.63% at S$4.66 yesterday (Thursday) on record volume against a flat market.

* The formal announcement of the syndicate composition for the forthcoming global bond by the Federation of Malaysia could be made as soon as next week, said a banker. The Baa3/BBB- rated credit is considering three joint bookrunners, with its financial adviser Salomon Smith Barney already assured of one slot.

THE ARRANGING group of a jumbo credit facility for LVMH will emerge over the next week as the French brandy-to-luggage company closes in on its target Gucci. Most observers expect the group to consist of ABN Amro, Chase Manhattan, Citibank, Credit Suisse First Boston. The absence of the French banks is due to the conflicting nature of the takeover -- Gucci, LVMH and Pinault-Printemps Redoute (PPR) all have French banks as traditional lenders.

THE FEDERATIVE Republic of Brazil should make its long awaited return to the international capital markets within the next few days, with most bankers expecting the sovereign to bring either a five year plain vanilla offering or a 20 put five year bond issue. Speculation about the imminent deal was fuelled during the week when the republic topped its debt shelf up to $5bn by filing a $3.57bn programme with the SEC.

THE PROVINCE of Buenos Aires took the Latin new issue market in euros a step further this week when it launched a well received Eu150m 9.75% five year offering. The deal, led by CSFB and JP Morgan, was priced at an attractive 142bp over Argentina's 2004 euro bond, which was trading at around 470bp at the time of pricing on Wednesday.

THE REPUBLIC of Colombia provided a spectacular demonstration of the current rush of international investors into Latin bonds this week when it took the market by surprise to launch a blow-out $500m 10 year plain vanilla global bond priced almost on top of its yield curve. The deal, led by Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs, was priced yesterday (Thursday) at the tightest end of its 495bp to 500bp spread talk to yield 10.12%.

THE REPUBLIC of Hungary's landmark global bond proved highly contentious this week, with market opinion sharply divided over the Baa2/BBB rated transaction. The issue, the first SEC registered global bond by a central and eastern European borrower, was priced by bookrunners ABN Amro and Salomon Smith Barney last Friday (April 9), having been delayed for two weeks in the wake of the Nato air strikes against Serbia -- with which Hungary shares a border.

* Following its decision last week to allow the tenge to float freely, the Kazakh government this week launched the first in a series of foreign currency denominated T-bills designed to help investors to hedge their currency exposure after last week's de facto devaluation. Two issues of three and six months duration were launched, with nine and 12 month paper set to follow. The dollar paper paid a 7% yield versus the 20%-25% levels offered by similarly dated, tenge denominated securities.

FUNDING officials from the City of Prague this week mandated ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank as joint bookrunners on the Czech capital's first euro issue. The probable Eu200m 10 year offering is to be launched towards the end of May. Unofficial price talk on the issue is 90bp over Euribor, equivalent to 125bp-130bp over Bunds. Before the bond issue Prague is looking to put in place a Eu100m club-style bridge loan by the end of April.