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Having completed European roadshows yesterday (Thursday), Telefónica will begin the US leg of premarketing for its $5bn plus equivalent transaction today (Friday). Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter are expected to launch the issue soon after roadshows end on Tuesday. The deal is not expected to carry a ratings sensitive coupon and should be priced at a slight premium to Deutsche Telekom. Five, 10 and 30 year dollar tranches are expected, along with a Eu1bn five year piece. Moody's and Fitch this week concluded their reviews of British Telecom's (BT) rating, but the company has indicated that it will wait until Telefónica has completed its transaction before it restarts preparations for its $10bn global bond. The company will watch the Spanish telco's deal closely. Moody's downgraded BT from Aa1 to A2 and Fitch from AA+ to A. The ratings are in line with the A rating Standard & Poor's (S&P) assigned the company two weeks ago, but the Moody's and Fitch ratings are stable, whereas BT remains on negative outlook with S&P. S&P cut Royal KPN's long term rating from AA to A- last Friday (September 1). Yesterday Moody's downgraded the Dutch telco from Aa2/A3. The company is planning to raise between $5bn and $10bn in several tranches ranging from five to 30 years in the second half of this month. And the seemingly endless telecoms pipeline grew longer this week as Telstra indicated that it hopes to launch a global bond issue of $1.5bn by November. Procter & Gamble will launch its debut euro transaction via Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs following roadshows beginning on Monday. A size of Eu1bn and an intermediate maturity are expected. Price talk is the mid to high single digits over Euribor. Corus Group has confirmed that it will tap the euro market in September, via Deutsche Bank and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. The company was created by the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens. A Eu500m five year transaction is expected after roadshows. Kamps should launch its euro deal soon. JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch are expected to launch an intermediate maturity issue of around Eu250m. Moody's this week affirmed its A3 rating of Aventis, which is set to launch a euro issue in late September/early October. A transaction of up to Eu1bn is expected via UBS Warburg. Renault has awarded the mandate for a euro transaction to JP Morgan and SG. Launch will take place after a European roadshow. Sol Melia this week announced that it will establish a Eu1.5bn EuroMTN programme, with Deutsche Bank as arranger. Freddie Mac roadshowed its upcoming EuReference Note this week. Bankers say that investors are indicating a wide range of spreads at which they would buy any issue. However, around Euribor minus 12.5bp, or close to KfW, is seen as a likely level for the Eu5bn 10 year deal. Household Finance should launch its Eu1bn five year via Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and UBS Warburg at Euribor plus 55bp-60bp soon. And Citigroup will launch a 10 year euro benchmark this month via Schroder Salomon Smith Barney after roadshows next week. Fannie Mae will next Tuesday reopen its five year Benchmark Note via Credit Suisse First Boston, JP Morgan and Salomon Smith Barney, with pricing on Wednesday. HSBC will today increase the 6.25% July 2009 issue of Aggregate Industry plc by $90m, taking the deal to £200m. Pricing will be at 240bp over the 5.75% 2009 Gilt. Euroclear Bank is planning Eu250m lower tier two and Eu250m upper tier two transactions via ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank. Roadshows took place this week and launch is expected early next week. Bankers expect the lower tier two tranche to emerge in the mid-40s over Euribor and the upper to be priced at 105bp-110bp over. Further supply from Italy is due from Banco Populare di Milano. The bank is looking to sell Eu350m of lower tier two and tier one paper. Banque Sofinco should today price a Eu100m lower tier two 10 year non-call five transaction via BNP Paribas, CAI and Natexis Banques Populaires.

GOLDMAN SACHS and SG have begun premarketing a combined Eu3.5bn-Eu4bn equity with non-tradable warrants and equity linked offer for Thomson Multimedia that caps a remarkable change in fortunes for the company.

GOLDMAN SACHS and SG have begun premarketing a combined Eu3.5bn-Eu4bn equity with non-tradable warrants and equity linked offer for Thomson Multimedia that caps a remarkable change in fortunes for the company.

Tokai Bank has added Sanwa International as a dealer to its ¥600 billion ($5.64 billion)Euro subordinated note programme. The shelf has $2.95 billion outstanding off 48 trades.

Toyota has increased the limit on its Euro-MTN programme by $1 billion, taking it to a ceiling of $7 billion. The programme, signed in 1992, is rated AAA by Standard & Poor's.

Sol Melia is due to sign a euro1.5 billion ($1.34 billion) Euro-MTN programme in the next few days. The issuer will join seven other Spanish corporates in the market. Deutsche Bank is the arranger. Deutsche Bank will be lead bookrunner off the inaugural issue. Sol Melia, a hotel chain, has not yet set a date for the first note. But it is thought that it will be launched before the end of the year and that the amount will be approximately euro300 million. Sol Melia set the programme up specifically for the funding of its acquisition of Tryp, a Spanish hotel chain with properties in Cuba and Tunisia. The acquisition will make Sol Melia one of the 10 largest hotel companies in the world. Arancha Sanchez-Flor, Sol Melia's director of financial markets, explains why Deutsche Bank was chosen as arranger. She says: "We appointed Deutsche Bank as arranger because it offered the full package of services required for the Tryp transaction." Sanchez-Flor says that the timing of the bond is crucial and Sol Melia will wait for an appropriate time to announce the date. She adds: "The first issue will probably be allocated in Europe, while a relatively small portion will be sold to institutional investors in Spain. We will roadshow in Europe and, if market conditions permit, we will launch the inaugural bond soon after." Funding off the programme will also help Sol Melia buy two hotel properties in addition to the acquisition of Tryp. Deutsche Bank is assisting by supplying two mortgages for the deal. Sol Melia is no stranger to the capital markets and issued a euro200 million convertible bond in September last year. Sanchez-Flor says that the ceiling of the shelf is higher than they are expected to need. She says: "How much we raise in the next year depends on the expansion plans of Sol Melia. Euro1.5 billion is really a generous estimate of how much we will need and we hope not to reach that limit for the following two years." Sol Melia is rated BBB+ by Standard & Poor's. There is only one other hotel chain issuer in the MTN market: Hilton Group, rated BBB. Sanchez-Flor says: "We are very happy with our BBB+ rating, as it is the highest rating in the industry and although we have a negative outlook this is a temporary decision. We will hold the annual meeting with S&P to review our rating in the following weeks." It is rumoured that Lehman Brothers, Golman Sachs, UBS Warburg and Merrill Lynch will be included on the dealer panel.

The Republic of Turkey successfully raised nearly $1bn in prefunding for 2001 with two quickly executed increases of existing bonds, taking the sovereign's international funding this year to over $7bn. Turkey hit its $6bn target for 2000 in July.

* UBS Warburg will price CRH's 5% placing today (Friday), raising around Eu365m for the Dublin-based road building materials company. The firm is listed in Dublin and on Nasdaq but has its main listing on the LSE. The accelerated bookbuild was launched on Tuesday and closed yesterday (Thursday) comfortably covered, according to bankers.

The United Mexican States this week continued the trend of Latin sovereigns buying back expensive debt when it announced an offer to repurchase Sfr280m ($159m) of Swiss franc denominated 30 year Brady bonds. Taking advantage of an 11 year low on the Swiss franc and a strong Mexican peso, the UMS said it would pay Sfr78 per Sfr100 principal, plus any accrued and unpaid interest up to the day before the offer expires on September 26.

RBS has arranged a £22m senior debt facility and a £6.5m mezzanine strip to finance the acquisition of Cygnet Healthcare Limited by Cygnet 2000 Limited, a company formed by RBS and Asset Backed Securities Limited, and the management of Cygnet Healthcare Limited. The acquisition provides an exit for institutional investors 3i, HSBC Private Equity and F&C Ventures. The management team will roll over most of their existing investment into Cygnet 2000.