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An investor panel at the Fitch-sponsored New Europe Conference on Tuesday concluded that the "first wave" EU candidates will not produce easy gains for investors hoping to exploit spread tightening prior to accession, expected in 2005. Ingrid Iversen, assistant director in the emerging markets debt and currency team at Rothschild Asset Management, said: "If they expect appreciation up to membership, they are buying for the wrong reasons."

France Télécom has mandated Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to lead manage its Eu5bn equivalent bond offering. France Télécom is looking to issue Eu1bn equivalent in sterling together with offerings totalling Eu4bn.

The escalation of violence in Israel, rising oil prices and pervasive equity market weakness widened credit spreads sharply at the end of the week. The 10 year swap market was closing on Thursday (yesterday) at around 121bp over 5.75% August 2010 Treasury. This was off the high of the day, which was 123bp over, but still some 7bp wider than a week ago. The five year was closing at 101.5bp over the 6.75% May 2005 Treasury, while two years swaps were around 77bp bid.

Grant Johnson has left Credit Suisse First Boston along with two of his colleagues following the bank's merger with DLJ. Officials at CSFB said that Johnson's position, with those of Bob Kerr and Tom Mulligan, had been made redundant. Johnson's last working day at the bank was Wednesday. He had been at CSFB for three years as head of the syndicated loans team and had overseen the expansion of the team and the increased focus on leveraged financing. He was reputably on one of the highest salaries in the European loan market.

ABN Amro Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney are expected to begin premarketing KPN's Eu4bn-Eu6bn equity and equity linked financing shortly despite worsening sentiment toward the telecoms sector. Roughly half of the total is expected to be convertible bonds with the rest from the sale of shares. Earlier this week, KPN made the unusual announcement that the deal would be downsized from the expected Eu8bn-Eu10bn.

Allgemeine HypothekenBank has increased its euro3 billion ($2.60 billion) multi-currency CP programme to euro5 billion. It has also added ABN Amro and ING Bank NV to the dealer panel.

Another UK utility is to tap the Euro-MTN market in order to raise funds to satisfy increasingly strict regulatory requirements. Anglian Water (Anglian) signed a euro1.5 billion ($1.45 billion ) Euro-MTN programme on Wednesday, March 22. Barclays Capital has won the arrangership, as first rumoured in MTNWeek, issue 157. All UK utilities, since the beginning of 2000, have been told to cut their customers' bills as well as undertake capital expenditure programmes. Many have faced ratings downgrades and all have had to raise extra funds. Jane Pilcher, group treasurer at Anglian, says: "There's been a period of uncertainty over the last 18 months. But now the regulator has published its price review at least we have entered a stable landscape." Anglian has to undertake a capital expenditure programme totalling £

China China Mobile (Hong Kong) arrangers Bank of China and China Construction Bank have signed a Rmb12.5bn dual tranche facility this week. Funds are being raised via wholly owned subsidiary China Mobile (Shenzhen).

Europe * Fennica No 5 Plc

Australia Adelaide Airport has mandated ANZ Investment Bank for a A$220m term loan. The terms of the deal are still being finalised.

Autonomy will list on the London Stock Exchange's techMARK index in early November while an offer of existing shares via Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs is expected to raise between £300m and £400m. The London listing will add to the Easdaq and Nasdaq listings the company already has. Both listings will remain, but the Easdaq listing will be redenominated in sterling.

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?