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Czech Republic The City of Prague has requested bids for a Eu200m financing plan, due by March 18, with a maturity of no less than 10 years.

South Africa Absa Bank, Barclays, Nedbank and Standard Bank London Limited (facility agent) have closed the club-style syndication of the $55m three year term loan for LTA International.

DEUTSCHE Bank is sole underwriting a bridge financing of Eu1bn for the Danish food products and packaging company Danisco. Bankers say it is the largest ever loan from the Nordic region to be underwritten by a single bank. The facility was launched into syndication on March 9 and around 10 banks should join the deal. A presentation for senior managers will be held next week.

Hong Kong New World First Bus's HK$565.6m ECGD buyer credit has been launched by arranger BA Asia to a handful of relationship banks.

BT ALEX Brown will roll over the existing financing that backed Nomura Principal Finance's purchase of William Hill from Brent Walker to finance CVC and Cinven's acquisition of the UK bookmaker that took place in February. Nomura's purchase of William Hill in 1997 was backed by £400m of senior leveraged debt that comprised a £175m seven year term loan priced at 175bp over Libor (term 'A'), a £100m eight year term loan at 200bp over Libor (term 'B'), a £75m nine year term loan at 225bp (term 'C') and a £50m working capital revolver priced at 175bp but with a non-utilisation fee of 75bp.

Merrill Lynch has hired Matthew Collins to head its European leveraged finance group's origination activities. Collins, who will be based in London, will focus his efforts on syndicated high yield bonds for European-based financial sponsors and strategic M&A related financings.

There are reports of fireworks and dancing in the streets in the Dead Canary Wharf, the land that time forgot. Has the place been condemned at last by the local authorities or sold to the Moscow Mafia? Will all wretched Dead Canary employees be given a golden pass to Xanadu, better known as Chelsea? And to think there are plans afoot to sell the Dead Canary concentration camps and outhouses to the unsuspecting public. We would rather buy shares in Goldman Sachs!

Goldman Sachs is expected to launch a $2bn exchangeable bond for LVMH, the French luxury goods group, backed by shares in Diageo. The new capital may pave the way for a full bid for Gucci, the Italian fashion group with which the company is currently embroiled in a complex web of legal battles. The disputes revolve around a proposal from LVMH to establish a trading relationship with Gucci following the revalation that the French company had built up a 34.4% stake in Gucci.

Bookrunners IBJ International and Banca IMI and joint lead Monte dei Paschi di Siena are on the verge of launching the first Italian collateralised debt obligation. The Eu263m transaction, Securitised Portfolio of Quality Receivables Funding (SPQR) is already oversubscribed, but the leads are waiting for the Bank of Italy's approval to launch the deal - it is very likely to come today (Friday).

n Credit Suisse First Boston will price La Défense II plc today (Friday). The Eu174.151m deal is the second securitisation to finance sales of buildings by Vivendi to SITQ, the international investment arm of Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec. Backed by two office buildings in central Paris occupied by Vivendi and a new tower in La Défense tenanted by Kværner, the deal will comprise three bond tranches, rated Aaa, Aa2 and A2 by Moody's, and a subordinated issue of billets de trésorerie (French domestic CP), placed by CPR. A CSFB liquidity line will cover credit risk on that tranche.

Life Co, an independent Japanese consumer finance company, is to launch its first international auto loan securitisation through Warburg Dillon Read in the next two weeks. The transaction, known as Freya Funding Corp after the Norse goddess of life, will be worth between $200m and $220m, and will be wrapped by triple-A rated monoline insurer FSA. With a one year average life and five year legal final maturity, the deal is expected to be priced in the low 40s over one month Libor.

Paramount Hotels of the UK this week launched Europe's first securitisation of hotel revenues, sole managed by Greenwich NatWest. The £52m deal, Hotel Securitisation No 1, parcels cashflow from eight hotels in regional UK towns, and opens a new asset class in the fast developing market for securitisations of non-contractual revenues.