■ In our view, the decision to fund the Link through the bond market rather than the bank market was correct on the bases of price, maturity and capacity. The only material advantage of bank debt may have been flexibility. However, this additional flexibility in terms of drawdown schedule and early repayment would probably have been limited by the necessity to hedge future movements in interest rates.
■ The bonds were issued on a substantially sub-LIBOR basis, which would not have been achievable in the bank market.