A round-up of today's other business news in brief
Anglo raises $1bn through bond sale
Anglo Irish Bank has raised $1 billion through the sale of a Government-backed bond to international investors,
writes
Una McCaffrey
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The sale, completed yesterday, was Anglo’s first US-denominated bond issue since the bank was nationalised in January. The issue was oversubscribed, with one-third of the investment coming from Asia. All investors in the bond were located outside the Republic.
The debt, due in 2010, was priced at 180 basis points, or 1.8 percentage points above mid-swaps.
Anglo’s issue followed AIB’s successful move on Thursday to raise €1 billion in the first sale of an unsecured, non-guaranteed bond since the introduction of the bank guarantee last September.
Bank of Ireland is expected to follow AIB’s issue with an unsecured bond of its own, marking an improvement in investor sentiment towards Irish financial assets.
Anglo has taken delivery of the final tranche of a €4 billion refinancing from the State. In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Anglo said the Government had provided €172,279,996 in capital.
Anglo reported a loss of €4.1 billion for the six months to the end of March this year.
C&C shareholders approve £180m deal
Shareholders at drinks group C&C yesterday overwhelmingly approved a £180 million (€196 million) deal to buy the Scottish and Irish businesses of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
The acquisition, which includes Tennent's, was announced last month and allows C&C to market its Magners cider in the North and Scotland as well as giving it a strategic partnership with ABI, the world's largest beer maker.
C&C chief executive John Dunsmore said he would not rule out further acquisitions in the long term.
The deal includes the Tennent's Wellpark brewery in Glasgow.
Shares in C&C closed one cent weaker at €2.92 in Dublin. - (Reuters)
Ulster Bank gets €500m injection from RBS
Ulster Bank has received a €500 million injection of funding from its parent, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the fourth such package this year.It was provided to Ulster Bank Holdings (ROI) Ltd on August 28th, according to a filing at the Companies Registration Office. The move brings total support for the unit to €1.6 billion this year. RBS has been shoring up its Ulster unit, which is suffering rising loan losses after the collapse of the property market. – (Bloomberg)
