Barclays Capital is predicting that last year's surge in European equity-linked convertibles will continue and that a likely €4bn ($3.5bn) issue will break the record set by France Télécom last year.

In November, France Télécom issued a €3.5bn convertible which was the largest ever euro-denominated convertible issue. Barclays Capital's report The European convertible market in 2002 said there was a trend last year towards both larger average deal size and larger absolute issue size.