NTT launched only the second major issue of 1998 from a Japanese corporate this week with a $1bn 10 year global bond which had to strike a fine balance in pricing to ensure distribution in all three centres. Some bankers said the deal had been priced cheaply at 49bp over. Others, and not just the lead managers Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, argued that it was set at exactly the right level to ensure the US distribution which the issuer wanted.
March 20, 1998