Deals of the year 1999: Trend-setting and ground-breaking

 Syndicated loans        Mergers and Acquisitions        Equity        US deals of the yearBONDSCar giant carves its yield curveIssuer: DaimlerChryslerDeals: $2 billion 10-year Eurobond, $1.5 billion five-year Eurobond, $1 billion FRNDate: August 161999Bookrunners: Credit Suisse First Boston, Salomon Smith BarneyWith its $4.5 billion three-tranche financing in August, DaimlerChrysler firmly put itself on the map as a newly merged entity. This was the second-biggest industrial company debt offering of all time.And it was done at an awkward moment, bang in the middle of the holiday season when Argentina was looking decidedly shaky too. "DaimlerChrysler wanted to do it before the US Federal Reserve's open market committee [FOMC] meeting," says Andrew Brownfield, managing director at Credit Suisse First Boston, which was joint bookrunner with Salomon Smith Barney.It was an "unprecedented marketing effort on the ground for that time of year", Brownfield adds.DaimlerChrysler's aim was to set a benchmark yield curve at three different maturities: six months, with a...