Deals of the Year 2011: European Union

These commodity- and energy-sector transactions exude a confidence that could not be further removed from the relentless pessimism of the European debt markets – last year’s reluctant lead story in the capital markets. The eurozone debt crisis dominated everything in the second half of the year and when the European Union decided to tap the market for €4 billion in September some in the market doubted that a 15-year deal could get done. "We had not seen a long-end syndicated euro deal in the sector since June 2010 and there was uncertainty about volume of appetite at the long end given the surrounding volatility," says Lee Cumbes, managing director at Barclays Capital in London. "This was not the sort of deal that you could just put a price out and go." The reaction could hardly have been more positive. Books opened on September 21 at 8.30am and after raising €5 billion in 50 minutes they were closed at 9.45am, a testament to the solid preparation that was put into the trade. "We knew that there was a degree of underlying structural demand from insurance companies and pension funds that had not been serviced due to a lack of supply and changing credit preferences," says Cumbes. "The number of active issuers at the long end had fallen, increasing the need for diversification. So, we had the confidence to pitch that there was firm demand for a new deal."