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AT&T will create one of the largest ever corporate bond issues next week when the US telecoms group launches its long awaited $6bn three tranche offering via Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney.

THE SIX arrangers of the Eu175m term loan for Bank Handlowy will launch the deal into general syndication today (Friday). The facility is already oversubscribed, and the borrower is expected to take the extra funds and increase the total to Eu225m. The arrangers are Barclays, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Deutsche, Dresdner and WestLB and the deal is priced at 40bp over Libor.

Australia On March 13 the Victorian gov- ernment awarded the Strautus Networks and Energy 21 gas distribution and retail businesses to a consortium comprising Boral Energy and Envestra for A$1.67bn.

THE POPULAR Eu1bn five year revolver for Banque PSA Finance has been signed after arranging banks Banque Nationale de Paris, Barclays, Crédit Lyonnais and HSBC were well supported in all stages of syndication by the borrower's relationship bank group. Over Eu2.25bn was raised and as a result, Banque PSA has increased the loan to Eu1.85bn.

ARRANGERS of the Eu22.5bn loan supporting Olivetti's hostile Eu35bn bid for Telecom Italia -- Chase Manhattan, DLJ, Lehman Brothers and Mediobanca -- have completed one-on-one meetings with potential arrangers. They are confident that they will have raised the required Eu12.5bn by next Friday. The four arrangers have already committed Eu10bn in total with Chase, DLJ and Lehman Brothers committing Eu3bn each and Mediobanca Eu1bn.

ABN Amro, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and WestLB have launched syndication of the £200m three year revolving credit for Saab Finance Ltd.

Denmark While early market talk suggested a price in the thirties for Danisco's Eu1bn bridge facility, arranger Deutsche is offering it at the much tighter price of 20bp over Libor.

THE MOST important deal of the year for the busy Scandinavian loans market gets underway this week -- the Eu450m seven year multicurrency revolver for Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA). Bankers are already calling it a benchmark transaction and point to the margin as an indication of the emergence of higher pricing levels in the region. SCA, a forest products and packaging producer, has mandated two arrangers, Deutsche (also bookrunner) and Svenska Handelsbanken (also documentation and facility agent).

BANK OF Tokyo-Mitsubishi (bookrunner), Barclays Capital (information memorandum), Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale (facility agent), Bank of Montreal (documentation agent), Commerzbank (bookrunner) and Paribas (bookrunner), lead arrangers of the Hellenic Republic's $500m five year facility have received an outstanding response from potential co-arrangers. Banks were offered $25m on a take-and-hold basis, and a massive oversubscription achieved. Joining at this level are San Paolo-IMI, Banca Commerciale Italiana, Banque Nationale de Paris, Commercial Bank of Greece, Den Danske, DG Bank, DGZ Bank, DSL, Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein, National Australia Bank, National Bank of Greece and Unibank.

India The official date for the close of general syndication on the $100m five year bullet facility for Industrial Development Bank of India passed on Wednesday this week with some 12 banks committing in writing.

NATIONAL Bank of Egypt's decision to raise a $150m term loan through arranger Citibank could herald the start of a busy four months in Egypt. According to bankers, as many as five Egyptian financial institutions are preparing to tap the international syndicated loan market over the coming months, possibly including Banque du Caire, Banque Misr, Commercial International Bank and Egypt Arab African Bank.