France Telecom’s share price
| Source: Reuters |
A massive, well-flagged, marketed rights issue for a heavily indebted European telco during a war is by no means a sure-fire deal. So France Telecom’s success in selling an astonishing e16 billion-worth is remarkable. The credit arguably belongs more to France Telecom than to any of the 21 underwriting banks. In a first for the equity capital markets, the issuer created a bidding process for the underwriting. At about 8pm on Friday, April 21, France Telecom asked 24 banks to indicate how much they would be willing to underwrite at a price of between e13 and e16, effectively building its own book.
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