Crunch calls

Instead of basking in the glow of healthy returns from the high-yield market, investorsare voicing their concerns about changes in the maturity and call structure of high-yield bonds. Laurence Neville reports on a growing dispute

The current strength of the European high-yield market is beyond dispute. In 2003 it posted its highest issuance volumes since its inception and issuers who would never have previously considered issuing high-yield bonds made successful debuts in the market.

For investors, 2003 was also a bumper year. European issuers in Merrill Lynch’s global high-yield index gave investors a total return of 24.36% in 2003, while high-yield issues in European currencies returned 26.36%. So what’s to complain