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Red Maple, a special purpose company, has signed a $10 billion secured note programme with Royal Bank of Canada (Europe) as arranger off the programme. The facility has limited liability in the Cayman Islands and was signed on October 5. There is no dealer panel.

The IPOs of mid-capitalisation companies bore the brunt of this week's turbulent equity markets with at least 10 deals pulled or postponed throughout Europe and scores more under threat. But tumbling markets in the US, concerns over a broader war in the Middle East and rising oil prices, and the general indebtedness of the telecoms sector could yet derail some of the fourth quarter's highest profile offerings including KPN, Telefónica Moviles and Orange.

* Agence Française de Développement Rating: Aaa/AAA

The Eurozloty market saw four one year high yield bonds released this week, totalling Z400m ($109m), as institutional investors exploited the inverted yield curve by switching into shorter maturities. Wednesday saw two bonds launched at Z100m each. Bank Austria launched a 20% coupon bond at a 101 issue price and a reoffer price of 100.1, lead managed by RBC, along with Bank Austria Creditanstalt and Hypovereinsbank.

On Monday, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter was forced to pull the Eu388m-Eu557m IPO of broadband provider B2 Bredband and price the Eu864m IPO of Telia's directory unit Eniro at the bottom of the range. The Bredband deal was scrapped one day before the end of bookbuilding. The company was due to list on the OM Stockholm Exchange and Nasdaq after issuing 29m new shares at Skr115-Skr165.

Leveraged buy-out specialists are watching anxiously for news of Finelist, which has gone into receivership. Finelist was put into the hands of receivers, with Ernst & Young appointed as administrator, following the discovery of financial irregularities within the company.

The Republic of Finland has established a buyback window to repurchase selected Finland legacy currency Eurobonds to mirror its activity in its benchmark bond market and to offer investors an alternative outlet. "This year we have been active in restructuring existing benchmarks," Satu Huber, director of Finland's state treasury explained. "On eight separate occasions, we have either bought existing benchmarks for cash or on switch into existing bonds. This new window is an extension of our normal debt management programme."

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?

Things just get worse for the Neuer Markt. Two deals were postponed this week, and one of the high growth exchange's flagship companies, EM.TV, announced that an accounting error meant the first half figures it announced in August were incorrect. On Wednesday the Nemax all-share performance index fell to 3,993 - its lowest point this year and below half the level it was at in March. It is becoming increasingly hard to persuade investors to take on new Neuer Markt stocks. Many institutions are too busy selling off the stakes they have just bought. "Most funds," said the head of one equity syndicate desk in Frankfurt, "are now handling their positions rather than thinking of new investments."

National Bank of Greece (NBG) is to join the Euro-MTN market today, October 13. Its entry, coupled with Greece joining EMU at the start of 2001, is expected to lead to a wave of Greek signings. NBG, which has been considering a Euro-MTN facility since last year, is signing a euro1 billion ($870 million) programme via Merrill Lynch. This will be the fourth Greek issuer to enter the Euro-MTN market behind the republic itself, EFG Hellas and Alpha Bank. The republic announced on Tuesday October 10 that it planned to issue euro23 billion- to euro24 billion-worth of debt in 2001. The NBG signing and the republic's increased activity has encouraged many. Peter Swinden, Alpha Bank's treasurer, says: "It's expected that the republic will be upgraded once it joins EMU and we hope that on the back of that the banking sector's ratings will be reviewed." Fitch has assigned NBG an A- long-term rating. The issuer is Greece's largest bank. It was last seen in the capital markets in 1997 when it launched a 10-year $200 million trade. The dealers off the programme are BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Salomon Smith Barney and the arranger.

Portman Building Society (Portman) will put its name to a £