The closing weeks of 2009 were characterized by repeated warnings that the debt capital markets had not learnt the lessons of the previous two years and that investors were leaping back into risky products in a simple chase for yield. The only real surprise, however, is how quickly this happened. And more bull market instruments are set to see the light of day again this year, among them corporate hybrids.
At the peak of the last cycle corporate hybrid issuance reached roughly €9 billion – or 5% of the corporate market. But even at the market’s height protagonists were well...
