THE STRONG regional support for Eurobond issuance from Lebanon was underlined this week as first Banque de la Mediterranée and then the Republic of Lebanon itself were able to successfully access the Euromarkets thanks to the traditional backstop bid for Lebanese risk from Middle Eastern investors. Because of Asian, Russian and, now, Latin American contagion most emerging market issuers are effectively barred from the international bond markets. Bankers said that the high level of liquidity within the banking sector in the Middle East and the Gulf had helped to ensure that the two B1/BB- rated Lebanese transactions were rapidly taken up. This was despite the fact that they offered launch spreads up to 1,000bp tighter than where similarly rated credits could hope to tap the Euromarkets.
October 09, 1998