ABN AMRO joint lead manages US$5 billion Freddie Mac issue

ABN AMRO today launched a US$5 billion global issue for US home loan agency Freddie Mac – one of the biggest initial tranches on a US agency debt offering to date.

The three-year reference note issue carries a coupon of 6.25% and was re-offered at 99.836, giving a spread of 52½ bps over US treasuries.

The AAA-rated deal is joint lead managed by ABN AMRO, Morgan Stanley and Warburg Dillon Read. It is aimed at attracting investors across Europe and Asia, as well as North America, in line with Freddie Mac’s policy of broadening its investor base geographically.

Paul White, head of dollar syndication at ABN AMRO, commented:

“This was a blow-out deal which we placed very widely with investors in the US, Europe and Asia. It was being priced to sell and will be deeply liquid. It demonstrates the huge appetite among investors around the world for high quality US agency paper.”