Unsustainable debt levels leave global bonds on shaky ground

The global corporate bond market is looking a little risky to investors as the debt levels of companies rise to unsustainable levels. Steven Logan, investment director at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, believes leveraged buyouts are a potential cause for concern with regard to the smaller telecom players, but there are exceptions. For example, an acquisition of 02 is more likely to be achieved by trade buyers (witness the recent rumours of Deutsche Telekom & Holland's KPN's interest) due to the cost synergies they should be able to extract. These synergies are absent with a ...