Rallye, the French food distribution group, selected ABN Amro Rothschild, BNP Paribas and Crédit Lyonnais to jointly lead a €200m ($208m) convertible bond, which has become the first European equity-linked issue in 2003.

The three banks were joint bookrunners and joint lead managers. When Rallye last entered the equity-linked market BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank led the issue. In January 2001 Rallye issued a €460m bond exchangeable into shares of Casino Guichard-Perrachon to shore up its ownership interests in the French supermarket chain. Rallye used the funds raised to buy shares in Casino's secondary offering.