Nomura’s handling of SK Telecom’s $300 million five-year convertible bond has left the market asking if it was the bold stroke that will establish the firm as a big player in Asia’s equity-linked market or an over-aggressive piece of business that could harm the market and the bank alike.
The deal, issued by the South Korean telecom firm on March 19 to refinance a similar bond maturing in May, was the first convertible bond to be issued by a company from Asia for some eight months. Initial price talk had been for a coupon of about 3%, and Barclays, Credit Suisse and Citi were believed to be handling the mandate. It came as something of a surprise,...
