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Into a European corporate bond market becalmed for weeks, GDF Suez on Tuesday launched the market's biggest deal for two years, raising EUR 3bn.
The money is expected to be used to pay down GDF Suez's bridge loan for its recommended acquisition of the 30% it does not already own of International Power, the UK electricity generator with assets on six continents.
The day's burst of five deals in euros and sterling was the most on any day since the bumper haul of nine on March 20, just before the market turned.
Between April 21 and May 21, European companies sold only [Euro] 6.1bn of bonds, less than the total the continent's investors swallowed on May 22.
GDF's deal was large, not just by recent standards, but by any European corporate standards. Enel's [Euro] 3bn retail issue aside, the last European-targeted...