RWE will launch an extensive investor roadshow on April 10 to drum up support for a EUR5 billion ($4.4 billion) dual-currency bond offering due to be launched later this month. Analysts say the offering is likely to prove the biggest European utility bond offering to date and will need to be extensively pre-marketed if it is to be executed at attractive spreads. "Clearly one of the issues that may concern bond investors is the scope of [RWE's] future European and U.S. expansion plans," says one fixed-income analyst. He notes Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's put the German utility on negative outlook and creditwatch negative, respectively, March 22 following news of its tie up with U.K. utility Innogy.
April 03, 2002