Deals of the year 1998: It’s the taking part that counts

They gave us some of the biggest equity deals ever. Swisscom, Endesa IV and DoCoMo, for example, between them raised $34 billion. And Brazil’s privatization of Telebrás brought in a further $19 billion. In the debt markets it was also a year of heavy-weight deals: big, liquid bond issues for highly creditworthy borrowers such as Fannie Mae’s Benchmark Notes programme and DePfa’s jumbo Pfandbriefe. But there was also room for innovative deals: ABN Amro showing the way for European banks in raising tier-one capital; Colt’s three-tier financing comprising equity, debt and convertibles; and Cecchi Gori’s film-rights securitization to name but three. Some of last year’s bravest finishers were the deals done amid the worst of Asia’s crisis: Tri-Energy, a rare Asian project financing and Korea’s determined $4 billion bond issue for example. Then there were the hardy pioneers who led the way out of the markets’ Russian stupor: Royal KPN which opened the market for corporate borrowers, Thames Water which did the same for the sterling sector, Hermes, NTL and CalEnergy in the European high-yield markets; and Associates, with its $4.8 billion issue, the first true credit deal after the crisis. Over the next 30 pages we profile these and other transactions – our winning deals of 1998.