By Aimee Donnellan
LONDON, Nov 8 (IFR) - It was the long-disappeared MidlandBank, rather than Barclays, that used to call itself the"Listening Bank". But it might be time for Barclays to adopt theslogan.
The UK bank is in the market with its first Additional Tier1 bond - and the stakes could hardly be higher.
Barclays has enlisted a strong cast of lead managers -Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS - to assist itto sell its AT1 deal. And it would do well to listen to theiradvice and tap into their considerable expertise in capitaldeals.
Bankers at lead managers on its previous two capital dealssay that the borrower did not pay attention to their advice onthose transactions. As a result, they say, its first CoCo wastoo large, while the execution on its second was bungled (thedeal was announced just before Easter and had to be postponeduntil after the holidays).
And while trickier credits like Banco Popular Espanol havefound relative success in the AT1 market, Barclays latest foraywill not be easy. After all, a high trigger bond with a couponthat can be turned off like a tap is not going to be at the topof every investor's wish list.
Much is riding on the deal. Not just for Barclays, but forthe market as a whole.
Deutsche Bank, for instance, is already lined up behind theBritish firm as it needs to issue USD5bn of capital notes toimprove its leverage ratio, while other European and US bankshave to raise as much as USD400bn of bank capital in the comingyears.
"Barclays is very stressed out about this deal," said a DCMbanker. "Deutsche is right behind them and has to raise billionsin capital."
So this time around, Barclays need to take the hint andlisten to any advice it can get.
Barclays (BARC)