Search results for

BMW SIGNED its successful facility last Tuesday, after agreeing to an increase from $2.5bn to $3bn as a way of accommodating part of the massive interest shown in retail and at the co-arranger level. However, even with the increase, lenders' allocations still had to be slashed back. The arrangers were Barclays, Chase Manhattan, Deutsche and Dresdner. ABN Amro, Bank of America, Bayerische Landesbank, Citibank, Commerzbank, First Chicago, HypoVereinsbank, Royal Bank of Canada, SG, HSBC and WestLB joined the deal as co-arrangers.

The rush by banks to boost their balance sheets gathered momentum this week with subordinated deals from a diverse group of issuers, all of which were highly successful. Sumitomo Bank issued lower tier 2 capital via its International Finance vehicle. The 10 year global transaction was initially talked at $800m at a spread of 265bp to 275bp but substantial oversubscription resulted in an increase to $1bn at launch and pricing at the tight end of the range at 265bp over.

Norwegian state owned oil company Statoil will launch its debut euro issue early next week, a Eu500m eight to 12 year deal via ABN Amro and Salomon Smith Barney. Statoil has only issued one public deal in a euro legacy currency in the past decade but, according to Statoil's group finance director Jon Jacobsen, the company is keen to diversify its funding sources.

Shares in the newly floated German logistics group Stinnes traded well this week after difficult market conditions forced lead managers Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Warburg Dillon Read to cut the price and the size of Veba's divestment of the company last Friday. As foreshadowed in Euroweek last week, the Düsseldorf-based energy conglomerate was forced to restructure the spin-off of its subsidiary after a lacklustre response from investors.

Defying difficult primary market conditions, the sale of stock in the Spanish yellow pages group TPI by Telefónica has attracted very strong investor interest. Lead managers Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Argentaria, BBV and La Caixa will price the deal over the weekend, with all the signs pointing to a very successful conclusion.

Fitch IBCA offered a new methodology for comparing the strengths of multilateral development banks this week when it published a report looking at the credit strength of borrowers such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank from a quantitative perspective. During last year's global financial turmoil the spread differential between triple-A rated supranationals widened to levels seemingly incompatible with their identical ratings. And while considerations such as liquidity played their part in the realignment of credits, several supranationals complained that the market was not correctly pricing risk.

n Eurofima Rating: Aaa/AAA

n Caisse Autonome de Refinancement Rating: Aaa/AAA

The Republic of Turkey will today (Friday) price its $500m 10 year global bond via Chase Manhattan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The B1/B rated transaction, launched yesterday, was issued on an indicated spread of 670bp-685bp over the 5.5% May 2009 US Treasury.

Syndicate managers in London reported this week that the United Mexican States is gearing up to launch a euro market offering in the coming weeks, with a likely seven year maturity. Mexico has not issued a euro or Ecu bond since 1997 and it is expected to award the mandate for the new transaction within the next fortnight. The UMS is then likely to come to the market before August in order to beat the exodus of retail investors from the market for the traditional European holiday period.

First National Bank of Chicago has quietly arranged and signed a £60m five year club deal for Cattles plc, one of the UK's leading consumer finance companies. The loan carried a margin of 62.5bp over Libor and a commitment fee of 27.5bp.