Top stories
Getting away with it
Piraeus Bank was not assured of the success of its €807.1m rights issue before launch. Indeed, the deal was a risk too far for some banks, which walked away from the transaction. Yet an increasingly positive view of peripheral Europe among investors saw near-full take-up and excess demand. Owen Wild reports.
EMI pre-pack bombshell
The UK’s largest pre-pack administration saw EMI’s executives in effect take back control of the music company from private equity firm Terra Firma last week. The £3.4bn deal may prompt financial sponsors of other highly leveraged businesses to review their groups’ structures to prevent such management seizures. Christopher Spink reports.
'True' US WBS returns
Increasing demand for higher-yield paper means that esoteric and off-the-run ABS trades are poised to make a significant comeback. Barclays set the wheels in motion last week with a restaurant-chain WBS, but the limited history of WBS in the US and uncertainty about assumptions led Moody’s to qualify its ratings with a lengthy warning. Adam Tempkin reports.
EM's Egyptian resilience
Egypt’s political turmoil has provided a timely reminder of why EM bonds trade at a yield premium to those of the developed world. Nevertheless, contagion has been minimal in comparison with previous crises and though things could take a turn for the worse if the Gulf becomes embroiled in democracy protests, a large-scale EM sell-off is not a realistic possibility. John Weavers reports.
Pricing pain to continue
GDF Suez and Schneider Electric, which secured cheap financings just last year, are preparing to return to the loan market to heap further pressure on already broken pricing models, and more borrowers are expected to follow. Despite the continuing European sovereign debt crisis and the threat of future Basel III regulation, bankers are sceptical that pricing discipline will return any time soon, Alasdair Reilly reports.
Williams IPO offers chance to buy into F1
Equity investors are to be offered a unique investment with the Frankfurt IPO of Williams Grand Prix Holdings, owner of the AT&T Williams Formula One motorsport team. The all-secondary deal will see up to 27.39% of the company floated on the Entry Standard with team principal and co-founder Frank Williams retaining majority control.
UBS revolt delays bonuses
UBS bankers will have to wait another week to find out the size of their 2010 bonuses, after the Swiss lender last week delayed all decisions on remuneration until February 9, citing the need to complete a number of pending reviews.
Comment: Keith Mullin
Up Front
Level-headed
Violence on the streets of Cairo has reminded investors of political risk inherent in non-democratic societies, but contagion thus far has been remarkably modest across the bond market.
A bit rich
“I have to say as an ex-banker, I understand the public anger to some extent.” Not the words of the late poet TS Eliot, whose banking career – and life – are so far behind him that he could be forgiven a sense of detachment, but those of Michael Cohrs, the freshly retired former head of Deutsche Bank’s corporate finance business, referring to the global hatred directed towards the profession of which, until September last year, he was a leading part.
UBS revolt delays bonuses
UBS bankers will have to wait another week to find out the size of their 2010 bonuses, after the Swiss lender last week delayed all decisions on remuneration until February 9, citing the need to complete a number of pending reviews.
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