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* Rabobank Nederland Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

TURKEY mandated Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers as bookrunners yesterday (Thursday) for a sought-after Eu300m-Eu500m floating rate note issue scheduled for launch early to mid-next week. "Turkey has been looking at the market and has seen that either US dollar fixed or euro fixed deals have been challenging for all issuers," said one of the lead managers. "It is a decision to give investors what they want and at the moment that is floating rate product."

UBS Warburg has hired four people to join the European loans syndication team in London, as the bank pursues a greater share of leveraged finance business. They will all report to Jonathan Macdonald, head of loans syndications for Europe, in a nine strong team.

The banks backing Whitbread's £1.25bn loan have signed up. Barclays and HSBC arranged the facility. The deal is divided equally between a three year revolver and a five year revolver. The three year tranche carries a margin of 47.5bp over Libor, and the five year tranche pays 52.5bp.

* Pamukbank of Turkey last week raised $45m from a second securitisation of the cashflow it receives by processing remittances from overseas workers in Germany. The deal was prompted by a large reverse enquiry to lead manager Credit Suisse First Boston from a US investor. CSFB then found further demand and launched the deal as a Reg S/144A bond, with some sales in Europe.

Rabobank this week priced its Eu212.5m synthetic collateralised loan obligation, Sundial Finance Ltd. Despite the option of 144A language, all the buyers came from Europe. "Investors were attracted by two things," said Eddie Villiers of Rabobank's London syndicate desk. "The deal has a very robust five year hard bullet structure - and it is a portfolio originated by Rabobank, the only independent bank with Aaa/AAA ratings, which is known for its conservative underwriting."

BANCA di Roma successfully launched its second collateralised bond obligation, Caesar Finance 2000 SA, last Friday. The Eu500m transaction was structured by Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Italian investment bank Mittel Capital Markets and lead managed by DLJ (books) and Banca di Roma. The deal parcelled bonds from Banca di Roma's trading book, issued primarily by Italian banks and corporates, as well as international corporates and supranationals.

Canary Wharf Group plc, owner of the Canary Wharf office development in London's Docklands, this week issued its second securitisation of buildings in the complex, using an innovative structure including variable funding notes that could form a new template for commercial property securitisations. Though investors appear to have liked the deal, shaky credit markets denied Canary Wharf the blowout reception that greeted its first securitisation in November 1997.

FIRST Active Financial plc, the UK arm of Irish bank First Active, this week launched Europe's first securitisation backed by mortgages that are both flexible and secured on buy-to-let properties. Flexible mortgages were pioneered in the UK by First Active Financial and Legal & General, and are now offered by over 40 lenders in the UK. They allow borrowers to prepay their loans without penalty and then reborrow the amount they have prepaid at a later stage.

General Motors Acceptance Corp this week launched the third issue of senior bonds from its European targeted securitisation vehicle GMAC SWIFT Trust 1999-1, which parcels loans to car dealers in the US. As with the trust's first deal in September last year, GMAC took advantage of the tight credit spreads that prevail in the Swiss franc market, selling Sfr850m of three year soft bullet FRNs at a mere 2bp over three month Libor. Lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston, the Series 2000-1 issue is rated triple-A by all three agencies.

This is the second of three articles regarding a heuristic approach to measuring counterparty credit risk.

This is the first of three articles regarding a heuristic approach to measuring counterparty credit risk.