Issuer: Hutchison Whampoa
Amount: €500 million
Launched: March 3
Bookrunners: Deutsche Bank, HSBC Markets
It's not a vista that every finance director can claim to have. But from Frank Sixt's offices you can see the People's Liberation Army practicing basketball. The Chinese army, one hopes, is better at shooting enemies than hoops.
Sixt's shot has never looked surer, however. The finance director for Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa has scored many successes in recent months despite difficult economic times. A highly successful HK$1.5 billion ($193 million) deal in January, led by HSBC Markets, and a £325 million ($520 million) bond, also led by HSBC, whetted the appetite. But the highlight was its first euro deal launched in early March - a €500 million ($529 million) blowout.
Ironically it might never have happened. Hutch was planning to do a yankee issue instead and had mandated Goldman Sachs...
