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GZ-Bank has increased the ceiling of its euro5 billion ($4.47 billion) Euro-MTN programme to euro 10 billion. Morgan Stanley has been added as a dealer.

Citibank has been added as a dealer off GZ-Bank Ireland's $1 billion Euro-CP programme.

India Mandated arranger Sumitomo Bank has closed syndication for the ¥5bn loan for state utility National Thermal Power Corp. SBI International Banking Group is lead arranger.

Optical components manufacturer Linos added further impetus to the Neuer Markt this week as its shares rose 326% in their first four days. Lead managers HSBC Trinkaus and NordLB closed bookbuilding for the Eu38m IPO 24 hours early because the deal was already more than 40 times over subscribed. "The Linos frenzy reminded me of the times in February and March," said one banker close to the deal.

The Caribbean has provided the international bond markets with $1.3bn of paper over the past year, with Trinidad&Tobago and Barbados capitalising on their investment grade ratings, and Jamaica receiving a vote of confidence from investors despite its economic troubles. Jamaica will be looking to return to the external bond markets before long, but the recent strong supply from the region will remain an exception to the norm. Euan Hagger reports.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has signed a $10 billion Euro-MTN programme via Merrill Lynch. It is only the second Japanese corporate to sign this year. NTT is one of the world's biggest telecommunications firms and is 53% state-owned. It is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA+ by Standard & Poor's. Randolph Randolph, vice president, head of Asia Pacific capital markets at Merrill Lynch, says: "NTT has been considering the MTN market for a while and the signing is just a natural progression of its funding strategy." The dealers are the arranger, ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, IBJ, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Nomura, Salomon Smith Barney, Tokyo Mitsubishi and UBS Warburg.

LG-Caltex Oil Corporation signed a $200 million Euro-CP programme on Wednesday, September 6. Deutsche Bank has scooped the arrangership. The Korean issuer was formed when Caltex, from the US, teamed up with the Korean company Lucky. Hanvit Bank was the last Korean issuer to enter the Euro-CP market when it set up its euro2 billion ($1.74 billion) shelf in 1999. LG-Caltex has recently expanded and is now the fifth largest oil refinery in the world, in terms of production capacity. The dealer panel comprises Citibank, Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs. LG-Caltex Oil is rated BBB- by Standard & Poor's and Baa2 by Moody's.

The Euro-MTN market is to welcome its first pure postal issuer, rumour has it. La Poste, France's state-owned postal system, is thought to be signing a facility soon. The issuer, rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's, has a $500 million Euro-CP shelf. Talk is that the two banks competing for the arrangership are Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro. Deutsche Bank was added to La Poste's Euro-CP programme at the last update. And ABN Amro arranges the euro500 million ($506.31 million) Euro-CP programme of TNT, the only other postal issuer in the Euro-CP market.

Argentina Barclays Bank (Miami) has signed the $85m (increased from $75m) L/C facility for Banco BI Creditanstalt SA.

The last of the Lehman class of '95 has left the bank. Tiina Lee, Deborah Loades and Bruce Cairnduff went on to bigger and better things last millennium. And even Richard Tynan managed to do a passable impression of a rat as he jumped the good ship Lehman earlier this year. And now Julia Ward, Lehman's queen of origination, has seen the light and realised that, with a wedding to fund, she needs a more generous employer. Commerzbank may be ranked 20th in the MTNWeek league tables, but she has decided its better to work for a bank on the way up than one falling quicker than Rupert Lewis off his motorbike. Rumour has it that she is to take up her post in October, where she will be joining Francisco Perello, Commerz's head trader. And Commerzbank is not the only German house recruiting. Though Jon Saunders was being his usual coy self, we gather that Dresdner, after seeing most of its capital markets team walk out, is hiring again. Michael Stump has been added to beef up its MTN team, sparing poor Jon that tiresome job of pitching for programmes. And we hear there is another trader joining Jon soon. Watch this space . . .