| €410 mn CDO for Bank of Ireland |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| Bank of Ireland’s acquisition finance team launched a €410 million collateralised debt obligation (CDO),Partholon CDO 1 plc, of mainly European leveraged loans on September 19th. This is BOI’s first such CDO, and will close on October 6th. |
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| A Day in the Life of Esat BT's CFO |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| Having turned a negative EBITDA of €40 million into a positive €20 million, Tom Byrne, chief financial officer of Esat BT, (and president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) is aiming to keep the cash flow positive this year 'as we continue to drive cost out of the business'. |
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| A review group is currently examining Revenue powers. |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| A high level review group is currently examining the powers possessed by the Revenue. Inadequate powers in the past may have contributed to tax evasion. Are the current powers adequate, and are safeguards needed for compliant taxpayers? |
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| Accountancy Survey 2003 shows fee income up more than 15 p.c. |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| The Irish accountancy industry remains in rude financial health, according to the latest survey of the industry by FINANCE, with fee income for the 17 largest firms rising by more than 15 per cent to €574 million. But for those working in the industry, salary expectations for the next year should be modest with most firms believing that average salaries will rise by no more than 5 per cent.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has retained its pole position as Ireland's largest accountancy firm in terms of fee income - but only just! PwC reported a decidedly modest 4.6 per cent increase in fee income compared to last year - by far the smallest increase in income of the 'big four' accountancy firms although that fee income of €136 million was just sufficient to keep PwC ahead of KPMG for the number one position. A factor behind PwC's comparatively modest growth is the absence of the demerged PwC Consulting. KPMG's figures include an 8 month contribution from Andersen, which on an annualised basis would have made them biggest in the latest year.
So far the slowdown in the domestic and global economies does not seem to have impacted on the industry to any significant degree - but as with previous FINANCE surveys, there are wide variations in the financial performance of the major accountancy firms. |
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| AIB Capital Markets launches €400m Polonia Property Fund |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| AIB Capital Markets (AIBCM), has closed a €400m Polish Property Investment Fund through its wholly owned subsidiary in Warsaw, AIB PPM Sp. z o.o. The fund target is commercial property in Poland, however, up to 20 per cent of the fund can be invested in Hungary and Czech Republic. |
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| AIB Consolidates Position as Leading Player in European Leveraged Buy Out Market with Close of €407m CDO |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| September 2nd, 2003: AIB Acquisition Finance, a division of AIB Capital Markets plc, today announced the closing of its latest Collateralised Debt Obligation (Galway Bay CDO) totalling €407million. The fund places AIB as one of the top CDO managers in Europe and consolidates AIB’s position as a leading player in the European leveraged buy out (LBO) market, having arranged over €8.5bn of senior and mezzanine debt over its 13 years in operation to date. |
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| Banks need to produce detailed analysis of five years event loss history |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| Although Basel II won’t be transposed into Irish legislation until 2006/7, financial institutions will need to be able to produce detailed analysis by this date, so they need to start examining their data now, writes Alan Lush, in this overview of how Irish financial institutions, and their European counterparts are preparing for the New Capital Accord. |
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| Choosing an investment manager for your pension fund |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| Appointing the right investment manager is a critical part of the pension trustee’s job, writes Fiona Daly, and trustees need to follow a strategy that seeks to maximize the returns achieved on the scheme’s assets while having regard to the fundamental need to meet the scheme’s liabilities as they arise. |
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| Commercial property investment slows across Europe despite strong demand |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| Direct investment in commercial property in Europe in the first half of this year was €31.4 billion, 18% lower than the € 36.5 billion recorded in the same period of 2002, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s European Capital Markets Bulletin. |
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| CRH America completes $1 bn bond issue |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| CRH America, the wholly owned subsidiary of Irish building materials group CRH plc, has completed its second global bond offering, which will be used to partly finance CRH’s euro 646 million acquisition of Cementbouw Handel & Industrie (Cementbouw). |
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| Economists still out on whether to fix rates |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| In an interest rate survey conducted in last month’s FINANCE, only four of the ten participating economists recommended corporate treasurers fix their borrowings, despite long-term rates rising. This month FINANCE caught up with some of the economists, and dealers, and discovered that once again a consensus has yet to emerge on the fixing of interest rates, with one economist predicting that the probability of a rate cut has actually increased in the past number of weeks. |
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| First private placement for Bord Gais |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| After a successful €375 million first transaction, Bord Gais would recommend the private placement market to other corporates looking for medium to long-term funding. |
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| Gearing is the Key to Property’s Attractions |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| John Moran examines some of the main factors behind the continuing buoyancy of the property investment market |
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| IAS 39 and Macro Hedging – a significant win for the banking industry? |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| The recent proposal by IASB in relation to IAS 39, and the use of macro hedging, should allow banks to apply macro hedging to their loan and deposit book, something the banking industry has long been calling for writes Glenn Gillard. |
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| ISD will lead to greater harmony in EU, but problems remain to be overcome |
Issue: 10 / 2003 |
| The revised Investment Services Directive has provoked a great deal of debate amongst the stockbroking and fund management sectors writes Patrick Wilkinson, particularly in relation to the ‘internationalisation’ of client orders by investment firms. |
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