Three of the best: Peripheral European corporate bonds

Three of the best: Peripheral European corporate bonds

Companies from peripheral Europe have begun to introduce themselves to the London bond market, and are offering attractive terms. Christine Johnson, manager of the Old Mutual Monthly Income Bond fund, analyses three of the new entrants to the market.

A new sort of person is starting to turn up in the London bond market: senior executives from companies based in the eurozone periphery. They are here to find alternative sources of funding to their traditional, national and regional banks. They seem, by and large, well heeled and prepared to put forward a good offer. So should we be listening? We can reasonably assume good things are happening on the periphery of Europe by the fact we no longer hear much about it. This is a startling change from only two years ago, when Italian and Spanish government bonds were yielding more than ...