Lebanon does the hard sell

Amount: $712 million

Type of issue: sovereign Eurobond

Date: September 22

Bookrunners: Credit Suisse First Boston, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

Lebanon has confounded the sceptics by successfully raising more than $700 million in Eurobonds denominated in dollars and euros and, for the first time, persuading American investors to buy significant amounts of paper.

But it was a hard sell for Lebanese finance minister George Corm and the lead managers, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Credit Suisse First Boston.