Primary markets: Poor summer prospects for new issues

An excellent June for supply of new issues was not purely a European phenomenom. Issuers on both sides of the Atlantic joined in the fun last month. Conditions are firm and there appear to be few reasons why supply should slow. But according to the vast majority of European syndicate managers famine might soon follow feast. They fear the upcoming introduction of the EU Prospectus Directive on July 1 was a reason why opportunistic issuers stirred from their torpor during May and June and that this supply might well dry up until the dust settles on the new regulations.