North West Water Finance (NWWF) is the first in a wave of companies that have queued for weeks to tap the European bond market - and will have to pay a new issue premium to do so.

NWWF, the A2/A minus-rated UK company owned by United Utilities, successfully placed €750m ($627m) of seven-year bonds today via ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank and UBS Warburg.