International Bond Market Roundup

Anglo Irish Bank Corp

Ireland’s government is considering options for Anglo Irish Bank Corp., including allowing the company to buy back subordinated debt, a person familiar with the situation said. Anglo Irish, the Dublin-based lender taken over by the government last year, said as recently as Sept. 8 that the bank had sought approval from authorities to repurchase subordinated debt. Anglo Irish generated more than Euro 1.5 billion of profit from previous buybacks.

Dubai

Dubai’s government will seek to raise about USD 1 billion next week from the sale of a five- to seven-year bond, said two bankers familiar with the plan. HSBC Holdings Plc, Deutsche Bank AG and Standard Chartered Plc were hired to manage the sale, the bankers said, declining to be identified because the transaction is not public yet.

Iceland

Iceland’s central bank cut the benchmark interest rate by three quarters of a point after the island’s currency, sheltered by capital controls for almost two years, remained stable since the bank’s last decision, capping import prices. Sedlabanki lowered the seven-day collateral lending rate to 6.25 percent, the Reykjavik-based bank said on its website on Thursday. The bank also cut the deposit rate to 4.75 percent from 5.5 percent. Policy makers have reduced the benchmark 12 times from a record 18 percent since obtaining a USD 4.6 billion loan from a group led by the International Monetary Fund at the end of 2008.

Nakheel PJSC

Nakheel PJSC, the developer of palm-tree shaped islands off Dubai’s coast, will finish restructuring its debt by the end of this year, according to Chief Executive Officer Chris O’Donnell. “The restructuring is well advanced,” O’Donnell said. “We are in good discussions with banks and we’re working with customers on consolidation. We had 85 percent acceptance and we’re waiting for the 95 percent target.” Nakheel is renegotiating debt terms after the deepest financial crisis since the 1930s roiled Dubai’s real-estate market and left companies unable to raise money. Property prices have fallen more than 50 percent in the sheikhdom as banks cut mortgage lending.

PSA Peugeot Citroen

PSA Peugeot Citroen, France’s biggest carmaker, had its credit rating outlook revised to “stable” from “negative” by Standard & Poor’s, the ratings service said on thursday.

Romania

Romania will refrain from borrowing more money from the International Monetary Fund next year as it seeks to extend its current bailout agreement with a precautionary accord, President Traian Basescu said. The eastern European country plans to sell bonds on international and domestic markets next year to cover a budget deficit of Euro 5.7 billion, or 4.4 percent of gross domestic product, Basescu said in an interview with the foreign press at his presidential palace in Bucharest on Thursday. “We need a precautionary agreement as a safety belt and an element of credibility, so that’s why I insist on the idea that in April next year after we conclude this accord, we’ll sign the precautionary agreement,” Basescu said. “We’re going to borrow from the international and domestic markets for the deficit, we could sell Eurobonds or bonds on the Japanese market and others.”

Data compiled by MPM Capital Investments Ltd of 81, B.Bontadini Street, B’Kara. MPM Capital Investments Ltd is licensed to conduct Investment Services Business by the Malta Financial Services Authority. You may contact MPM on info@mpmci.net or 21493250. www.mpmci.net