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Salomon Smith Barney will close the books for Kensington Group's £100m IPO on Monday with pricing the following day and dealing on the LSE expected to begin on November 23. The company is a market leader in the non-conforming residential mortgage sector in the UK. "The demographics are pointing toward high growth in the non-conforming sector," said a spokesman for the company.

KPN's Eu5.5bn combined equity and equity linked deal is having a tough time as it moves toward pricing on Monday, although generous terms on the convertible and a consistent fall in the stock price are beginning to draw investors. Bankers connected to the sale, which is being led by ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, declined to comment on the state of the book for either deal, citing SEC restrictions. Other market observers have not been so reluctant to pass judgement.

Leak was sad to hear that Ian White and Joti Mangat of MTNWatch have jumped ship, leaving poor old Tim Cocks, straight out of university, to fend for himself. With a staff of one to run the service, it looks like MCM will abandon the project entirely. It is not clear where the two have gone, but it's no secret that Mike Tims is looking for some staff to man his latest web venture. And though we wish Mr Tims all the best with the project we are surprised he has not moved into his true vocation: Hollywood. Apparently when Mike was a young reporter on IFR he spent his spare moments writing a film that he was certain would bring him fame and fortune. It was entitled Celtic Warriors. The plot centres on a group of cyber-punks who go to the Isle of Anglesey to investigate a new breed of magic mushroom. But there they stumble across the tomb of King Arthur and he and his Celtic warriors come alive. The film ends with a bloody battle between the cyber-punks and King Arthur. It's only a matter of time before Mike abandons MTNs and dedicates himself to bringing this gripping tale to the big screen. Most UK treasurers were feeling even worse than Mike Tims' cyber-punks on Thursday after the raucous ACT bash at Grosvener House Hotel the night before. And we wish Julie Edinburgh the best of luck. She left CSFB on Friday to go on maternity leave.

French oil services firm Compagnie Générale de Géophysique (CGG) is on course to issue a well received $165m seven year high yield bond today (Friday), with bookrunner Salomon Smith Barney yesterday reporting that the book was three times oversubscribed. Price talk is 10.50%-10.75%. "Pricing will be well within the talk," said a Salomon official. CGG, however, is not looking to price inside the indicated spread range, despite the high level of oversubscription.

The Republic of Lebanon has mandated Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan for a $300m 2004 bond issue. One banker said it could either be a new issue with possible June 2004 maturity or a tap of an existing March 2004 bond.

Turkey Isbank has mandated an 18 strong bank group to arrange its 364 day $250m facility.

* Commerzbank has confirmed that Klaus-Peter Müller is to replace Martin Kolhaussen as chair of the Vorstad (see EuroWeek 673, October 6, 2000 page 8). Kolhaussen is due to step down at the bank's next AGM, in May. He is standing for election to the supervisory board.

Moody's has upgraded Hungary's foreign currency ceilings for bonds and bank deposits to A3 from Baa1 with the outlook stable. Along with the sovereign upgrade, several Hungarian corporates also saw their ratings improve. The agency cited the country's strong economy, continued gradual improvement in inflation, current account and fiscal performance. The agency also noted that it will focus its attention on exchange rate policy and public finances when reviewing Hungary's rating in the future.

* Mobile phone improvement company funkwerk successfully completed its Eu50m IPO on Wednesday, when the shares opened trading up 18% from the issue price. BHF-Bank priced the issue at Eu20, near the bottom of the Eu19-Eu22.5 range, after the deal was 2.5 times oversubscribed. "The market was very weak the day the deal was priced," said a banker close to the deal. Trading, however, started on Wednesday at Eu23.6.

Netherlands-based chemicals manufacturer, DSM NV, is planning to launch a Eu400m seven year bond next week via Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg following a European roadshow. The market is expecting pricing in the 75bp-80bp area over mid-swaps. DSM is involved in three business groups: life sciences, specialty products, and polymers and industrial chemicals. Over the last decade, it has been moving out of the more volatile commodity businesses and focusing more on its speciality chemicals divisions.

Egypt The Arab Republic of Egypt has received proposals from 19 banks for its debut international bond. Bankers expect Egyptian funding officials to take at least a couple of weeks to weed through the bulky proposals and draw up a shortlist before inviting the selected banks to Cairo for a beauty contest.