Search results for

INDIA'S ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has moved to revive confidence in its 100 day old government by this week announcing its intention to raise $2bn to $5bn in what it termed Resurgent India Bonds. Taken alongside plans by the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to proceed with a benchmark $200m fixed rate offering in the fourth quarter, issuance from the subcontinent is showing signs of a mild revival despite an unabating wave of negative news.

THE REPUBLIC of Argentina this week pounced on the first signs of stability in the emerging markets for some time to launch a Lit1tr seven year floating rate note. The offering, jointly led by Caboto, Credito Italiano and JP Morgan, is the largest ever emerging market lira deal.

CHASE Securities and Bear Stearns this week launched the first ever junk-rated global bond for US auto parts and equipment manufacturer Federal Mogul Corp. The $1bn three tranche offering was said by the lead managers to be a trailblazer for other US high yield issuers to access the European as well as their domestic investor base.

THE REPUBLIC of Venezuela is looking to raise up to $1.5bn more than it expected to this year due to the slump in oil prices. "Given the current oil prices and what that implies in terms of the fiscal deficit, we're talking about between $1bn and $1.5bn in new debt," said planning minister Teodoro Petkoff this week.

TWO more Slovak borrowers are planning to tap the Deutschmark Eurobond market following this week's successful DM200m increase to the DM tranche of the Republic of Slovakia's three currency deal in May. The first will be another sovereign credit, Vodohospodarska Vystavba, which has mandated Nomura for an expected DM175m three year issue at 400bp over Bunds.

WITH THREE of this year's jumbo privatisation sales completed, the Spanish market is to host a plethora of small to mid cap private companies coming to the market in the next two to six months. The Madrid bourse has been among the best performing of the continent's markets, and looks to be unaffected by the first signs of new issue fatigue which have been seen in other centres in recent weeks.

THE TURKISH equity market is gearing up for a potentially critical bout of primary market activity, with the privatisation programme at last showing signs of progress and leading private sector groups also taking advantage of buoyant market valuations. Following the successful sale of a 12.5% stake in Turkiye Is Bankasi for $650m in May -- a landmark transaction which put privatisation back on the map in Turkey after several years of delays, political U-turns and controversy -- the government is keen to maintain the momentum.

GLOBAL co-ordinator SBC Warburg Dillon Read this week launched the pathfinder prospectus for the sale of stock in Coca-Cola Beverages (CCB), the newly formed Coke bottler for the central European markets. With a full two weeks of roadshows to go, the book already looks in good shape with keen interest being shown in the shares from the investors that attended presentations.

GOLDMAN Sachs and SBC Warburg Dillon Read have executed a $687m (face value) sale of convertible bonds on behalf of Ciba Specialty Chemicals, the Swiss quoted chemicals group spun-off from Ciba Geigy last year. The offering plugged into the still strong demand for equity-linked paper which has been growing steadily in continental Europe, despite the richest quarter on record for convertible new issues.

CSFB and IMI will complete the fourth sale of shares in the Italian oil and gas group Eni this weekend, and the lead managers have attracted generous praise for what bankers expect to be a successful conclusion to the offering. Given the unpredictable state of the Europe's stockmarkets, which have seen continental bourses move up and down by an average of about 1% each day for the last three weeks, the most difficult type of deal to execute is a large secondary placement of an already traded, highly liquid stock.

SBC WARBURG Dillon Read scored another coup in the Greek equity markets this week with the successful completion of the sale of stock in Hellenic Petroleum. Having also run the books on the sale of National Bank of Greece, this Hellenic Petroleum sale continues the firm's run of success in the Greek market, which is attracting a renewed burst of interest from foreign investors as the local currency looks like a promising candidate to join Emu in 2001.

RENEWED optimism on Wall Street pushed stocks higher this week, helping improve conditions for new issues. Several successful deals were completed, showing that investors remain hungry for the right story at the right price. Lehman Brothers concluded the secondary offer of stock for Loral Space & Communications mid-week, just as the market began to pick up. The company originally filed to offer 16m shares globally, but increased the size of the deal to 20m shares during the marketing period on the back of strong demand.