Issuer: NTL
Date: October 1998
Amount: $1,075 million
Bookrunners: Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Morgan Stanley
Many successful and well-executed high-yield deals, including Orange, William Hill and Sirona, were done in the first eight months of 1998 while the youthful European high-yield debt market was booming. But the most impressive deals were those clinched in the midst of the crisis that followed meltdown in Russia. These helped to reopen the secondary market, kick-start new issuance and generally restore investor confidence in credit.
The first of our two choices as best high-yield deal is NTL’s $625-million 10-year issue, launched on October 26 1998 and jointly led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. This US telecoms company operates and has its assets solely in Europe, with particularly strong businesses in the UK. NTL’s dollar-denominated deal was the first after a two-month hiatus in the high-yield market characterized by extreme investor and issuer caution. “There was a total absence of high-yield deals in Europe at this time,” says John Wotowicz, European head of high yield at Morgan Stanley.
When banks canvassed market sentiment at the start of October, they found that investors were crying out for a viable European high-yield deal.