Stacy94PGT

Reuters / December 08, 2003

LONDON (Reuters) -- Ford Motor Credit Co., the finance arm of Ford Motor Co., plans to launch a benchmark three and a half year euro-denominated bond, subject to market conditions, the lead managers said.

ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse First Boston have been mandated to lead the deal.

A banking source said the deal would be for around one billion euros, and was being planned for launch this week.

FMCC is rated A3 with a negative outlook by Moody's Investors Service and BBB- with a stable outlook by Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency.

Ford's bonds have rallied sharply since November 12, when S&P cut its rating on the company to BBB-, the lowest rung of the investment-grade ladder, but crucially assigned a stable outlook to the rating. The market had feared that a negative outlook would have led investors who are unable to hold high-yield bonds to be forced into selling Ford paper.

Euro-denominated bonds from Ford traded slightly lower after the announcement of the new issue. A trader quoted the company's 5.75 percent January 2009 issue bid at 173 basis points over Bunds, some five basis points wider on the day.

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Stacy94PGT
My first car was a 67 Mustang Coupe, 2nd one was a 67 Cougar XR-7, 3rd one was a 66 Mustang Coupe. Why did I get rid of these cars for ? I know why, because I'm stupid, stupid, stupid.

My next Ford.....