Euromoney received votes from 1,107 investors nominating the best borrowers in the international debt capital markets, a ranking traditionally dominated by the highest-quality sovereign borrowers, supranationals and agencies and frequent corporate issuers. The biggest riser in the ranking this year, up to 11th position from 33rd last year, is the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which funds the debt issued to bail out Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
In its three years of existence, the EFSF has established its name among institutional investors in Europe and Asia with a programme exclusively of large benchmark issues in euros that have been regularly tapped.
In April, in the aftermath of the Cyprus bailout, it executed the largest ever supranational or agency deal, a five-year bond eventually priced at 9 basis points over mid-swaps that attracted €14 billion of orders and was eventually closed at €8 billion.
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| Christophe Frankel, chief financial officer and deputy chief executive of EFSF |
With core European sovereign bonds bid up after Cyprus, including French debt, against which the EFSF is often benchmarked, the spread looked appealing. "It very quickly became apparent to us, in early feedback from a wide range of big and small investors, mainly in Europe but also outside, that the deal was in very good shape," says Christophe Frankel, chief financial officer and deputy chief executive of EFSF.
