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The second Croatian issuer has joined the MTN market with a euro500 million ($424.39 million) global MTN shelf. Pliva, a pharmaceutical company, signed on September 15 via UBS Warburg. The signing comes hot on the heels of Croatian Bank of Reconstruction and Development, which put pen to paper last month. Pliva will be one of only two Central and Eastern European corporates in the market, joining Lietuvos Energija which launched its inaugural deal in June. Pliva is the leading drug company in terms of sales in Central and Eastern Europe. It has a reputation for being aggressively acquisitive. The unrated issuer has an active $100 million Euro-CP facility which it signed in December 1998. The dealer group is made up of Bank Austria, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered, Westdeutsche Landesbank and the arranger.

Market report Compiled by Vusi Mhlanzi, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: 020 7881 5643

* AIG SunAmerica Institutional Funding II Rating: Aaa/AAA

* General Electric Capital Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

TTB Finance Cayman has added Toyo Trust and Banking Company as an issuer off its ¥200 billion ($1.88 million) Euro-MTN programme.

UBS Warburg has topped the MTNWeek issuance league table for the first time, knocking Salomon Smith Barney (Salomon) off the top spot. It has issued $13.44 billion off 558 trades which meet the MTNWeek private placement criteria (see back page). Salomon had held the number one position since May when it edged out Merrill Lynch. From the beginning of the year the two US houses had been jostling for the number one position. And this is the first time a European house has occupied the top position since MTNWeek capped the tables at $250 million in January 1999. Last year Salomon dominated the table, sharing the top spot with Nomura at the beginning of the year. It was toppled by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter at the end of 1999. UBS Warburg has traded in eight currencies this year, with most trades split evenly between dollar (25.6%), euro (24.4%) and yen (24%). Although it favours short-dated trades with 55% of its business in the one- to three-year sector, this quarter it has done more 10-year and over paper, with 13.7% of its business in this sector.

Achmea Hypotheekbank's first securitisation, Dutch Mortgage Portfolio Loans I BV, was warmly received by investors this week after a long wait. Originally due to be launched in June, the Eu1bn transaction was put off until after the summer break.

ABN Amro and CSFB this week launched the sixth securitisation of domestic mortgages for Irish bank First Active, with a Eu350m issue through Celtic Residential Irish Mortgage Securitisation No 6 plc. Having established itself as a regular issuer, First Active was able to reach out to a broader range of investors, said Adrian Carr, head of asset backed syndicate at CSFB in London. "There were a number of investors who have been involved in the previous deals, but we were pleased to get some new investors from southern Europe, particularly Italy and Spain," he said.

Several future flow securitisations from Turkish banks could be in the pipeline as the country's banks try to find ways of raising medium term funding. Dresdner Kleinwort Benson is believed to hold a mandate for a trade payment securitisation for DisBank, while JP Morgan is putting together a similar deal for IsBank.

BNP Paribas held roadshows in Europe this week for a Eu735m collateralised bond obligation for Banca Agricola Mantovana that may be the largest European CBO in the term market. The Italian regional bank, based in Mantua, is a member of the Monte dei Paschi group. It is engaging in the securitisation to free up regulatory capital and obtain finance for new lending to retail and corporate customers.

MBNA International Bank changed the habit of a lifetime this week by issuing the senior tranche of its latest securitisation of UK credit cards in euros and doubling its usual issuance size. The Eu725m 10 year fixed rate bond, designed to broaden MBNA's investor base outside the UK, was seen as a complete success. Some 25 institutions from across Europe participated in the tranche, some of which had never bought ABS before.