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* General Electric Capital Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

Thomson CSF, the French defence and industrial electronics firm, is planning to launch its debut euro denominated bond next week, subject to market conditions. ABN Amro and BNP Paribas have the mandate to launch the five year Eu500m-Eu750m issue. Price talk was in the plus 50bp area over swaps last week, but after the turbulence this week, the issue is likely to emerge around 2bp-3bp wider.

The utility sector has been further swelled with the signing of Tractebel's euro1 billion ($1.08 billion) global MTN programme on Wednesday, October 20. Tractebel, based in Brussels, is the fourth utility to sign this month. There are no plans to issue any notes off the programme this year as Tractebel is cash rich following the launch of a euro1.2 billion convertible bond in June. The issuer is also waiting to hear whether Suez Lyonnais des Eaux's bid for 90% of Tractebel's shares will be successful. Karina Binoye is in charge of financing at Tractebel. She explains that the issuer has signed a global programme in order to make issuing into both America and Europe easier. She says: "We wanted one set of documents for both markets." But she refused to speculate as to how much paper off the facility Tractebel hoped to sell into the US. Tractabel is unrated but Binoye says that this should not hinder investors. She says: "Tractabel is a very profitable company which is also very diversified with lots of investments abroad." The arranger is ABN Amro which joins Deutsche Bank, Fortis Bank, KBC Bank, JP Morgan and Paribas in the dealer group.

UK investors proved the mainstay of the European market this week, by continuing to take up new issues where their European counterparts appeared reluctant. Regus, N-Cipher and Collins Stewart completed IPOs and enjoyed strong performances despite the turbulent markets, while European deals such as Ono and a number of smaller IPOs were postponed.

Unilever successfully navigated one of the most volatile weeks seen in the bond market all year to price yesterday (Thursday) its long awaited $7bn multi-tranche global transaction, which was seen by syndicate officials and investors as a key test of the market’s health.

Unilever successfully navigated one of the most volatile weeks seen in the bond market all year to price yesterday (Thursday) its long awaited $7bn multi-tranche global transaction, which was seen by syndicate officials and investors as a key test of the market’s health.

Bank One has won the mandate to arrange a £125m 364 day revolving credit facility for Cattles plc. The deal will be launched into syndication next week. Proceeds are for general corporate purposes.

Brazil is hoping for a Standard & Poor's upgrade before it has to raise a final amount of at least $800m in the international capital markets this year. Moody's raised Brazil's foreign currency rating to B1 from B2 this week and took its local currency rating up two notches to B1. The market barely reacted, however, noting that the action by Moody's simply brings its rating in line with the current B+ rating from S&P.

Globals * Freddie Mac

* Alliance & Leicester Group Treasury plc Guarantor: Alliance & Leicester plc

Premarketing began this week for the Eu1.5bn IPO of Telekom Austria, with investors unanimous in their opinion that the company will have to be priced cheaply if its is to get away in the current climate for telecoms stocks. The Merrill Lynch and CAIB led deal is being compared to similar sized incumbents such PT, Swisscom and Eircom.

A ballooning of its spreads has sent the Republic of Argentina on a quest for alternative sources of funding to the international bond market, including more domestic bond issuance and possibly even an international syndicated loan. "We know that the markets are going through much turbulence, so we are thinking of some other means of dealing with it," said Daniel Marx, Argentina's finance secretary.