European High Yield: The only way is up

February 01, 1999

Europe's high-yield market was amongst the hardest hit by the Russian crisis. But as Rebecca Bream reports, the reasons for the market's bloom in early 1998 still hold good. Investors need greater yield and corporate restructuring is expanding the pool of potential issuers.

High-yield deals expected in the European market in first half of 1999
*Issuer*	*Country*	*Sector*	*Amount*	*Lead manager*
CompleTel	France	Telecoms	$300 million	Salomon Smith Barney
Willis Corroon	UK	Insurance	$550 million	Chase Manhattan
Coral	UK	Betting	£250 million	Lehman Bros
Cable Europa	Spain	Telecoms	-	Salomon Smith Barney
Jazztel	Spain	Telecoms	$150-$200 million	Merrill Lynch
Leica Geosystems	Germany	Optical equipment	Dm180 million	Merrill Lynch

Virgin	UK	Media	£200 million	-
Kappa	Netherlands	Packaging	-	Barclays Capital
*Source: Lead managers*

It was a cruel blow. Although almost all capital markets were hit in the aftermath of the Russian crisis, the European high-yield debt market was struck down in its infancy. Twelve months ago excitement about the take-off of the corporate debt market in Europe was reaching fever pitch, as banks hurriedly imported credit analysts and high-yield originators from the US and set about ridding the asset class of its junk-bond stigma.

European High Yield: The only way is up

Europe's high-yield market was amongst the hardest hit by the Russian crisis. But as Rebecca Bream reports, the reasons for the market's bloom in early 1998 still hold good. Investors need greater yield and corporate restructuring is expanding the pool of potential issuers.

To unlock this article

Topics