Schroder Salomon Smith Barney (SSSB) and JP Morgan have launched a $1.35bn (€1.27bn) exchangeable bond from News Corp, the media conglomerate, on the back of rises in share prices ahead of war with Iraq.

SSSB is global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner with JP Morgan of the bond, which is exchangeable into shares of BSkyB, the UK satellite broadcaster. The two banks worked together on an equity deal for News Corp in February 2002. They were joint global co-ordinators and bookrunners of an A$1.2bn (€668m) accelerated sale of preference shares.