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| E.On: turned on funding taps in 2007 |
Although E.On is one of the best-known utilities in Europe, it went five years without issuing a major bond in the capital markets. All that was to change in the middle of 2007, when it announced a €30 billion investment initiative, the financing for which needed to be raised by 2010. "The euro market was closed for much of 2008 – it was a really difficult year. Sometimes the market was only open for a few days at a time," says Verena Volpert, head of finance at E.On.
What does it take to be a good borrower? For a good many months the answer to that question was relatively simple: to have maintained an investment-grade rating. But the message from the top issuers is more subtle than that.