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AIRPORT Authority's HK$4bn two tranche deal -- due to launch next week -- is set to become one of the lowest pricings for a Hong Kong facility since the onset of the Asia crisis in July 1997. Original discussions started off at 120bp for the first tranche and 100bp for the second. However, the strength of demand from banks hungry for the quasi sovereign status and the non-property oriented core business of the borrower, has pushed the pricing down to 85bp over for the first tranche and 65bp over for the second.

Australia Sponsor Visy Paper is tapping the market for A$300m after securing a site for its proposed Tamut Pulp and Paper Mill in New South Wales. ANZ Investment Bank, Citibank Australia, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp have been mandated to arrange the project.

BRITISH Aerospace plc is poised to mandate Barclays Capital, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, HSBC, Lloyds and Greenwich NatWest to arrange some £2bn of debt to support the £7.5bn acquisition of Marconi Electronic Systems from GEC. There has been speculation about the name coming to the market for some months as the consolidation and restructuring of the European defence sector gathers momentum. However, this week the talking began to take on a more definite edge.

Bulgaria Expect news in the next weeks of a small deal for First Investment Bank of Bulgaria, which is looking at the market to raise between $10m and $15m. Before the war in Kosovo it was considering a slightly larger facility, perhaps $20m, but has dropped the amount as raising capital may be difficult for the region.

Egypt International arrangers Chase Manhattan, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Paribas and WestLB will close general syndication by the end of next week on the $220m international tranche of the senior secured credit facility for the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (ECMS). Early commitments are already in and the deal is heading for a strong close.

Argentina WestLB is arranging a $200m facility for Hidroeléctrica Alicura which will refinance a Eurobond for the same amount.

THE EUROLOAN market is gearing itself up to take on one of Europe's biggest leveraged buy-outs -- the £1.3bn acquisition of AstraZeneca PLC's specialty chemicals division backed by private equity houses CinVen Group Ltd and Investcorp. Bankers have been trying to second guess the structure of the deal which is being kept under close wraps by arrangers Chase Manhattan and JP Morgan until it is launched to co-arrangers and sub-underwriters possibly today (Friday) or Monday.

MEXICAN state owned bank Nacional Financiera (Nafin) yesterday launched what is the first ever Mexican peso denominated Eurobond and at three years the longest maturing fixed rate peso debt ever issued by a public entity. The 144a 'Europeso' issue is listed in London, launched off the bank's Euro-MTN programme, but was understood to have been mostly sold to US investors.

Hong Kong A number of banks are looking at providing a fundraising for Inchroy Credit Corp.

TUSSAUDS Group, the UK company that owns the Madame Tussauds waxwork museum in London and several leading theme parks in the UK, last Friday executed a £230m securitisation to refinance its leveraged buyout from media group Pearson last November. The transaction fits neatly into the growing family of long dated securitisations of a company's entire revenues, fostered by the UK's lively M&A culture, the appetite of its insurance companies and pension funds for long term fixed rate assets, and a legal environment that is unusually friendly to secured creditors.

TWO SPANISH savings banks this week brought the ninth mortgage securitisation from the TDA stable, sponsored by securitisation management company Titulización de Activos, with a Eu332.4m (Pta55.3bn) deal lead managed by Crédit Agricole Indosuez, EBN Banco and Société Générale. The borrowers comprised an experienced securitiser, Alicante based Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo, and a novice, Caja Laboral Popular. Based in Mondragon in the Basque country, Caja Laboral is Spain's largest credit cooperative, and belongs to the country's biggest industrial cooperative, Cooperativa Mondragon, whose diversified activities include hypermarkets, domestic appliances and manufacturing buses.

DEUTSCHE Bank opened a new front in its campaign to improve return on equity this week, with the first securitisation of loans from its global banking division. The Eu839.3m deal brings the total of the bank's outstanding securitisations to Eu6.74bn -- all launched in the last 12 months. Known as Globe 1999-1, the transaction also confirms Deutsche's policy of emphasising the distinct identity of the collateral backing each of its securitisation programmes through clear branding. Most major banks have structured CLOs with anonymous names such as ROSE and Millenium, conveying nothing about the underlying assets, and serving only to indicate that the vehicle is distinct from the selling bank's risk.