In a bid to term out its maturity profile and ease pressure on its capital structure, Hutchison Whampoa is set to re-finance bank loans relating to its recent acquisition of Dutch retail company Kruidvat with a $1 billion equivalent bond issue.
Unusually the diversified conglomerate has awarded books to three of its biggest 3G lenders rather than a host of US investment banks. Where previously Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch have dominated its capital markets business, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and JPMorgan will lead manage a deal this time round.
All three have, however, worked for group before. JPMorgan acted as one of three bookrunners on Hutch's $1.5 billion 10-year bond issue of February...
