Remember jumbos? Those enormous, highly liquid bonds that would set a benchmark for years to come? In 1989 the first global bond, issued by the World Bank, was an earth-shattering $1.5 billion. Now big deals have become so commonplace that the word jumbo seems to have fallen into disuse. "This year we will see a few borrowers pushing the envelope in terms of size," predicts Niall Cameron, global head of fixed-income syndicate at ABN Amro. Even before the last of the millennium party debris was cleared away in the first weeks of 2000, there was a flurry of multi-billion dollar deals. Fannie Mae issued $6 billion of 10-year bonds and $4 billion of two-year paper. Freddie Mac brought a $6 billion five-year deal. The World Bank launched a $3 billion global. And, for those who didn't notice, there was also a $1 billion deal from the European Investment Bank and globals of a billion dollars or more from GECC and GMAC. Oh yes - and the small matter of syndicated government bond offerings by Belgium, Portugal and Austria worth a few billion euros each. Big, highly rated borrowers have encountered huge appetite for their paper in the first weeks of the year. |