May 2003
Suez transformed by Fortis sell-off
Issuer: France Telecom
Size: e16 billion
Bookrunners: ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas
Fortis share price
French conglomerate Suez had another busy month in
the equity markets as it took advantage of a rally in the
insurance sector to dispose of almost all its holdings in
Fortis, the Belgian/Dutch bancassurer. The innovative
disposal, managed by UBS, took the form of a combined
mandatory exchangeable and block trade. It achieved a number
of firsts and broke a number of records.
The e1.19 billion three-year mandatory exchangeable
into 75 million Fortis shares is the second largest mandatory
exchangeable in Europe ever, after the Allianz/Miles deal in
December 2000, also managed by UBS. It was fully underwritten
at an issue price of e15.30 and offered a coupon of 4.5% and
an exchange premium of 31%.
The mandatory was structured with two innovative features. It
has a rare issuer call option that will allow Suez to force an
early exchange if the...
This is archived content. Your current settings does not currently allow access to the archive. To gain access visit the subscription page or call our hotline on +44 (0)207 779 8999.
If you are a trialist or subscriber, please enter your username and password at the top right-hand side of euromoney.com
Subscribers to Euromoney benefit from:
Level 1:
- Online access to the past 12 months content
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Level 2:
- Exclusive access to euromoney.com - Read the latest issue early online, search for specific developments by region or sector, interrogate the results of Euromoney's benchmark polls, and view the archive dating back to 2000
- 12 monthly issues of Euromoney magazine
- More than 30 specialist research guides free
- The results of Euromoney’s polls and surveys
- Tailored RSS news feeds direct to your desktop
- News delivered directly to your mobile device or PC
- Personalised email newsfeed of 'Top stories' and 'Breaking news'
Click here to subscribe