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Bankers returning from Prague agreed there was one major message coming from potential eastern Europe and Middle East issuers - that most of them were not going to tap the market until next year. Of course, there were some emerging market funding officials talking up their desire to visit the market - Iran is still on course for a $500m Eurobond offering and Romania for a long-dated issue - but bankers are largely sceptical.

Neuer Markt listed e-commerce software provider Intershop raised Eu140m this week in conjunction with a Nasdaq listing. The company is listing in the US in order to generate some acquisition currency in the region, raise its visibility there, and be able to offer US staff options. Intershop's comparables are also mainly listed in the US.

Israeli supplier of printing equipment, Scitex Vision, will reaffirm the growing international importance of the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt when it becomes the first fully owned subsidiary of a Nasdaq listed company to list on the high growth exchange. Although its parent company, Scitex Corporation, is listed on Nasdaq, Scitex Vision receives revenues from across the world, with about a third from the US, about a third from Asia, and about a third from Europe. "Europe is becoming an increasingly important part of the company's business," said a banker close to the deal.

SG has made a series of promotions in its debt capital markets division. The moves follow July's appointment of Olivier Khayat as head of debt capital markets. He came from CDC Marchés. Head of syndication Dominique Robert becomes head of operations and business development in the debt capital markets division. Robert will have responsibility for risk control and new business developments such as e-business, as well as becoming part of the debt capital markets management team.

JP Morgan has pipped Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank to the post for the mandate of the Republic of Lithuania's Llt100m ($25m) five year Eurobond issue. The deal, which is scheduled for next month - after elections on October 8 - will be the first locally denominated Eurobond from the Baltic States. It follows Euroclear's approval of the litas registration as a settlement currency, starting on October 1.

Following weak first half year results, Kingfisher plans to demerge its general merchandise operations, including Woolworths and Superdrug, from its DIY and electrical divisions. The general merchandise business reported profits of £6.3m, well below the £28.8m for the same period last year. The news prompted speculation that the general merchandise business may be sold. Analysts have suggested Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR), Metro, and Alliance UniChem as potential buyers. However, PPR has denied it is lining up a bid.

Royal KPN followed the lead set by Telefónica two weeks ago when on Wednesday the Dutch telco priced a blowout $4.38bn dollar and euro global to sell, attracting as much as $23bn of interest worldwide.

The European leveraged buy-out market looks set for a burst of activity as the final quarter of the year gets underway. The quarter promises to bring not only a greater volume of deals to Europe's growing investor base for leveraged assets but also some of the largest transactions seen in Europe. Two big UK LBO deals were announced this week. The first is the £700m acquisition of Rank Group's UK holiday businesses by the privately held caravan parks operator, Bourne Leisure. Barclays Capital has the mandate to arrange the debt financing for the transaction which is understood to comprise some £650m of senior debt as well as a mezzanine tranche. Barclays is expected to approach a select group of banks for sub-underwriting positions over the next week.

While it has been a busy September, the primary market in dollars and euros has not been as hectic as some had feared. Come the end of the month, British Telecom and its $5bn-$10bn multi-tranche offering is on ice - and only two telecoms companies have so far launched jumbo offerings. Nonetheless, Dutch telco Royal KPN went ahead with its $4.38bn equivalent dollar/euro funding exercise this week, and the dollar denominated proceeds are widely thought to have been swapped into euros. It is likely that it went to fixed rate. There were three dollar tranches, at five, 10 and 30 years.

Argentina Arrangers Barclays Bank (Miami) and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria launched the $150m loan-style FRN for Banco Frances SA into general syndication yesterday (Thursday). The facility has a margin of 145bp over Libor. Upfront fees are 40bp for $20m, 32.5bp for $10m-$19m and 25bp for $3m-$9m. Proceeds are for general corporate purposes. Replies are requested by October 13.

Latvijas Unibanka (Unibanka) has postponed the debut trade off its $400 million Euro-MTN shelf, which it signed last month (see MTNWeek, issue 191). The postponement is a result of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken's (SEB) buyout attempt of the Latvian bank. If SEB wins a 100% shareholding then Unibanka will have no need to access the international debt markets. Viesturs Neimanis, vice president at Unibanka, says: "The situation with SEB is a little unclear. Even if SEB becomes the sole owner there will be advantages in keeping the programme, but we may then cancel at the next annual update." A cancellation is likely as Unibanka's board supports SEB's intentions.

While many of finance's finest were sorting out the world's problems at the Word Bank meeting in Prague, the MTNers seemed to have more pressing engagements - golf, cruising and drinking. Paul Devenny at Rheinhyp in Dublin organized a golf day, which, bizarrely, MSDW's Klaus won. Dean 'the dog' Fogg, Merrill Lynch's finest, claims he was robbed of gold by a hole-in-one from Rheinhyp's Neil MacDermot. CSFB's origination girl, Louise Mason, has had a gruelling schedule which took her to Oktoberfest, the Munich beer festival. HypoVereinsbank Asset Finance was her host and she has only just recovered in time to go to an ABS conference in the Bahamas. Louise's ex-colleague from her Barclays' days, Frair Appleby-Walker (now at MSDW), was only last week with Katherine Mitchell from BNP Paribas at the Rabobank boat party in the Netherlands. And this week she's on another boat with another issuer (whatever happened to dealer loyalty?). This time it's the Nationwide crew who are hosting its annual cruise down the Thames. Again, they've hired the best money can buy for the live music - Light Alloy, the awfully named band that Barclay's Rob Ford fronts. Last year saw HSBC's Fergus Kiely dazzling the dance floor. But he might not have the energy to strut his stuff this year after his high-octane Silverstone engagement with the Jaguar F1 crowd. Does anyone do any work in September?