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* Agence Française de Développement Rating: Aaa/AAA

The Eurozloty market saw four one year high yield bonds released this week, totalling Z400m ($109m), as institutional investors exploited the inverted yield curve by switching into shorter maturities. Wednesday saw two bonds launched at Z100m each. Bank Austria launched a 20% coupon bond at a 101 issue price and a reoffer price of 100.1, lead managed by RBC, along with Bank Austria Creditanstalt and Hypovereinsbank.

On Monday, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter was forced to pull the Eu388m-Eu557m IPO of broadband provider B2 Bredband and price the Eu864m IPO of Telia's directory unit Eniro at the bottom of the range. The Bredband deal was scrapped one day before the end of bookbuilding. The company was due to list on the OM Stockholm Exchange and Nasdaq after issuing 29m new shares at Skr115-Skr165.

Leveraged buy-out specialists are watching anxiously for news of Finelist, which has gone into receivership. Finelist was put into the hands of receivers, with Ernst & Young appointed as administrator, following the discovery of financial irregularities within the company.

The Republic of Finland has established a buyback window to repurchase selected Finland legacy currency Eurobonds to mirror its activity in its benchmark bond market and to offer investors an alternative outlet. "This year we have been active in restructuring existing benchmarks," Satu Huber, director of Finland's state treasury explained. "On eight separate occasions, we have either bought existing benchmarks for cash or on switch into existing bonds. This new window is an extension of our normal debt management programme."

Has some 21st Century equivalent of Guy Fawkes lit the fuse under Credit Suisse First Boston which might threaten to blow the prestigious international investment bank into half a tonne of savoury mince? Thank heavens that Guy Fawkes never managed to put his Zippo lighter to the fuse, and it was Fawkes who was hung, drawn and quartered before being turned into an early Stuart dynasty kebab. We have commented on CSFB several times in these columns. Suffice to say that, in our opinion at least, something seems to be rotting in the CSFB barrel. Our sensitive noses, which can pick up a pickled herring past its sell-by date at 200m, detects something even more sinister. How about the smell of warm bodies on their way down to the knackers yard?

Things just get worse for the Neuer Markt. Two deals were postponed this week, and one of the high growth exchange's flagship companies, EM.TV, announced that an accounting error meant the first half figures it announced in August were incorrect. On Wednesday the Nemax all-share performance index fell to 3,993 - its lowest point this year and below half the level it was at in March. It is becoming increasingly hard to persuade investors to take on new Neuer Markt stocks. Many institutions are too busy selling off the stakes they have just bought. "Most funds," said the head of one equity syndicate desk in Frankfurt, "are now handling their positions rather than thinking of new investments."

National Bank of Greece (NBG) is to join the Euro-MTN market today, October 13. Its entry, coupled with Greece joining EMU at the start of 2001, is expected to lead to a wave of Greek signings. NBG, which has been considering a Euro-MTN facility since last year, is signing a euro1 billion ($870 million) programme via Merrill Lynch. This will be the fourth Greek issuer to enter the Euro-MTN market behind the republic itself, EFG Hellas and Alpha Bank. The republic announced on Tuesday October 10 that it planned to issue euro23 billion- to euro24 billion-worth of debt in 2001. The NBG signing and the republic's increased activity has encouraged many. Peter Swinden, Alpha Bank's treasurer, says: "It's expected that the republic will be upgraded once it joins EMU and we hope that on the back of that the banking sector's ratings will be reviewed." Fitch has assigned NBG an A- long-term rating. The issuer is Greece's largest bank. It was last seen in the capital markets in 1997 when it launched a 10-year $200 million trade. The dealers off the programme are BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Salomon Smith Barney and the arranger.

Portman Building Society (Portman) will put its name to a £

The second German issuer of the year has joined the market. Linde has signed a euro4 billion ($3.62 billion) Euro-MTN programme with Deutsche Bank scooping the arrangership. Its inaugural, a euro1 billion Eurobond, is expected to be launched within three weeks. The issuer will concentrate on attracting European investors. But the programme will not be the sole source of funding. Gunther Jakob, treasurer at Linde, says: "We will be following the market and will take whatever opportunities come up. This could be off the MTN, or bank loans or other sources." Linde is the world's fourth largest industrial gases producer, with a 12.5% market share, having acquired AGA last year. It is also the world leader in fork-lift truck production, and has recently signed a cooperation agreement with Komatsu to expand its industrial trucks business. Linde also works in engineering and contracting, and refrigeration. Its major shareholders are Allianz, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, each owning about a 10% stake in the company. At present Linde has access to AGA's existing Euro-MTN and Euro-CP programmes, but these will be incorporated into the parent company's larger Euro-MTN programme. However there are currently no long-term plans for the new programme as the recent attempt to acquire certain assets of BOC Group have fallen through, according to Jakob. He adds: "We can do any currency, and maturities up to 10 years, but euro4 billion is more than our foreseeable funding needs." The issuer is rated A3 by Moody's. Standard & Poor's rates the corporate A but with a negative outlook. The dealers off the programme are the arranger, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas Group, Commerzbank, Dresdner Bank, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney.

The Euro-MTN market can now offer investors the full range of Italian government borrowers, following the signing of debt programmes this week by City of Florence (Florence) and Province of Naples (Naples). (See MTNWeek, issue 125.) Merrill Lynch has won both arrangership mandates. Florence's $300 million global MTN programme was signed on April 29. It is the first of its kind for an Italian city and its first issue is expected shortly. The borrower will consider all currencies and structures but it has a preference for maturities in the 15-year sector. A rule 144A option has also been included to allow access to the American domestic market. Florence's total funding for the year is between L100 billion ($54.94 million) and L150 billion, which is needed for projects such as the city's new tram system and a centre for contemporary arts. One third of its funding needs will be met by the MTN facility. Mario Primilcerio, mayor of Florence, says: "It's a period of renaissance for Florence. That's why we call these instruments renaissance bonds." Naples, the third largest province in Italy and the first to join the market, signed its euro250 million ($265.95 million) Euro-MTN programme today, April 30. A euro35 million linear ammoritising inaugural issue, with a 15-year maturity, is planned for May. Such a small deal is typical of local authority borrowers which only come to market to fund specific projects. Merrill Lynch is sole lead manager off the deal. The signings mean that borrowers from all tiers of Italian government are active in the Euro-MTN market. Both borrowers compare well to Region of Lazio and Republic of Italy, which set up facilities last year, and City of Rome which will sign its programme in May. (See MTNWeek, issue 127.) It also paves the way for more to follow, one of which is rumoured to be City of Venice. Standard & Poor's and Moody's have assigned long-term ratings to Florence of double-A and Aa2 respectively and Moody's has rated Naples Aa3. Dealers off Florence's programme are Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Paribas, Salomon Smith Barney, Warburg Dillon Read and the co-arranger Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. Naples' programme has a restricted dealer group: Banco di Napoli, Barclays Capital, Paribas and the arranger.