An issuer with an open mind

Issuer: Banque Générale du Luxembourg
Amount: $2 billion
Launched: November 28 1996
Lead manager: Merrill Lynch

"It's not that they will look at quite anything," says Henry Nevstad at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, "but it's pretty close to that." He is talking about the $2 billion Euro-MTN programme run by Banque Générale du Luxembourg (BGL) which has been both busy and innovative since its launch 13 months ago.

"My phone has been exploding," says Philip Inghelbrecht, who is in charge of the programme's day-to-day running. He was speaking late last year as most of the financial community was winding down for Christmas. On that day, he had closed three yen trades, all bermuda callables ­ notes carrying multiple step-up coupons that are callable each time the interest rate increases.

This is a standard structure in the MTN market, but since signing its programme...