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FRANCE Télécom is to sell its remaining stake in Panafon, its Greek telephone subsidiary. The group is co-owned by the French operator, Vodafone (with 55%) and Intracom (with 10%) and has a float of 15% established after last year's IPO. The group's $688.88m stockmarket debut was led by Warburg Dillon Read and involved the sale of stock at Dra5,100. Since then the shares have risen to Dra8,600.

CITIBANK HAS won the mandate to arrange a $120m five year term loan for Pan Asia Paper. The deal launched on Tuesday, October 19. The borrower was established in February this year and wants to build up an international group of relationship banks.

THE POLISH government has launched the sale of stock in Polski Koncern Naftowy (PKN), the national oil and gas group owned by the state-owned group, Nafta Polska. Nafta plans to sell up to 30% of PKN's equity capital in a deal which could raise as much as Eu825m. The divestment will be the largest central European deal of 1999. The two tranche deal will target investors in both the local and international markets. Joining Dresdner Kleinwort Benson on the international sale will be Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Salomon Smith Barney as co-lead managers, with Crédit Lyonnais, CAIB and ABN Amro Rothschild as co-managers. The deal will be priced on November 19. A small retail sale will be targeted at local investors. The domestic tranche will be run by BRE Securities.

? Nordic Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

? DePfa Rating: Aa3/AA

GLOBAL CO-ORDINATORS Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter have defied nervous market conditions to execute the $1bn sale of primary stock in UPC (United Pan-Europe Communications), the Dutch cable group. The deal was successful and was priced early this week at Eu59.75 or $64.68 in the US market.

? Westfälische Hypothekenbank AG Rating: Aa3/AA-

Weak stockmarkets offered bonds their first support for some time this week as nerves about the valuation of US stocks and the recent rise in bond yields prompted flows into government bond markets. Having already risen to two year highs and with no new data adding to inflationary fears, a window of stability induced several borrowers to test the market. Ford Motor Credit launched its scheduled 10 year bond off its Global Landmark Security (GlobLS) programme. The $5bn transaction, issued at the tight end of the spread talk, attracted over $8bn of subscriptions from investors hungry for high grade liquid paper. The dollar market at the end of the week was dominated by Fannie Mae's announcement of its monthly calendar for its issuance of Benchmark Securities for the year 2000. Each maturity in the calendar has scheduled announcement, pricing and settlement dates, making the agency's debt closer than ever to its status as a Treasury surrogate. Separately, Fannie is said to be reopening its recent 10 year line in the near future. Volatility in credit markets erupted, however, when Mannesmann announced its Eu30bn take-over of Orange. Mannesmann's May 2009 deal widened 37bp over the week and the whole euro telecoms sector was repriced around 10bp to 15bp wider. Tobacco credits were also hit by news that cigarette companies would not be shielded from punitive damages in the Florida litigation action. The Philip Morris April 2006 euro widened 20bp, while BAT's February 2009 issue widened 19bp. But, the spread widening failed to hit new issuance in euros. Cofiroute provided the deal of the week, a Eu300m 10 year blow out priced at 50bp over OATs. The deal quickly tightened to 48bp over. DaimlerChrysler and Fiat took advantage of higher short term rates and investors' defensive stance to offer successful three year bonds. And Birka Energi demonstrated that the market is still open for well prepared triple-B credits with the smooth launch of a Eu500m seven year transaction. The Rabobank Group is set to issue hybrid tier 1 securities via lead managers Merrill Lynch and Warburg Dillon Read. Rabobank Capital Funding Trust, a US finance company, will be the issuing vehicle for the securities, proceeds of which will be used to finance Rabo's activities in the US. The euro denominated issue will be rated Aa1/AA, providing investors with a very rare opportunity to buy double-A rated tier 1 securities. Recent tier 1 issues for Deutsche and Dresdner were single-A rated. The deal is expected to carry a fixed coupon of 6.875% although some market participants believe that 7% will be needed to clear the transaction. Launch is expected in the next two weeks. Staples Inc, North America's second largest office products retailer, will next week roadshow a Eu200m five year transaction. Goldman Sachs has been appointed bookrunner with Salomon as joint lead. Staples is rated Baa2/BBB-. British retailing and leisure group Littlewoods is looking to raise £150m in the international bond markets. The privately-owned company has appointed Barclays Capital and Greenwich NatWest to lead manage the issue which is expected to have a 10 to 12 year maturity. German corporate Dyckerhoff's planned issue of Eu250m to Eu300m bond via Dresdner is likely to be a five year fixed rate deal priced at between Euribor plus 70bp to 80bp. Meanwhile Kugelfischer is set to opt for a Eu150m to Eu200m seven year deal priced at Euribor plus 85bp to 95bp, also via Dresdner. Sampdoria launched a novel Eu3.5m issue linked to the performance of the Italian football club. The bonds carry a minimum return of 2.5%, but should the second division team rise to the heights of Italian football and qualify for the Champions League, investors will be rewarded with a 14% coupon. Italian paper company, Cartiere Burgo is planning to launch a Eu200m five year floater next week via lead manager Mediobanca. Spread talk is 65bp to 70bp over Euribor. And Portuguese bank Montepio Geral will bring a Eu300m five year floater via ABN Amro and Merrill Lynch. n

ITALY'S FIRST free internet access provider, Tiscali, will complete its Eu138m IPO at the end of this week via global co-ordinators Banca IMI and ABN Amro Rothschild. The deal is inspiring huge levels of interest in the local market and abroad as investors flock to acquire stakes in the group. Some 20% of Tiscali's equity capital will be sold in mostly new shares. The proceeds of the sale will be used to expand internationally and acquire a licence to enter the integrated technology mobile phone business.

? JP Morgan has appointed Dick Rae to head its newly formed insurance capital and advisory team in the debt capital markets group in London. He will report to Andrew Readinger, head of the European financial institutions group. Rae, a life actuary, will have responsibility for serving the capital and risk management needs of clients in Europe. He joins from Swiss Re New Markets, where he directed insurance marketing. Previously, he worked in the development division of GAN Life & Pensions.

The Republic of Turkey looks likely to award a long anticipated lead management mandate for a $300m-$500m global bond offering early next week. Market expectations are that the country is looking to launch a five to seven year issue as a follow-up to the well received $500m 12.375% 10 year global bond that the country's funding officials launched in June.