The main feature of the debt markets as they try to shake off the clutches of the credit crunch appears to be the ending of cheap money, at least for now.
Fresh from the finalisation of its £9bn takeover of the Franco-Spanish tobacco giant Altadis, Imperial Tobacco raised nearly £1.2bn to deal with the debt taken on in the deal.
Saint-Gobain, the giant French building materials group, said it raised Û750m through a 2013-date bond issue managed by BNP Paribas, Calyon, JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Scotland.
