Joint-leads ABN Amro and Merrill Lynch completed an upsized $400 million five-year Eurobond for NACF after Asia's close on Friday.
The A3BBB rated deal was launched off a newly established $1.5 billion MTN programme and priced at 99.818% on a coupon of 3.45% to yield 3.449% or 144bp over Treasuries. As a debut borrower, the nearest pricing comparable was the similarly rated IBK, whose recent June 2008 bond was trading between 137bp to 139bp bid at the time of pricing.
Some market participants thought the premium a little wide considering the similar ratings and novelty value of the deal. However, most thought it was spot on given NACF's...
