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THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank is poised to announce details of a euro benchmark issuance programme which, the supranational hopes, will cement its position as the leading non-government borrower in the single currency. Euroweek understands that the EIB has appointed ABN Amro and Paribas as lead organisers of the programme, which will be called EARNs -- Euro Area Reference Notes. There will also be a dealer group of around 10 banks.

KfW launches Eu25bn note programme to assist in drive to become Bund surrogate KREDITANSTALT für Wiederaufbau this week put in place the final piece of its funding jigsaw which, the German state development agency hopes, will make it seen as the Bund surrogate, when it launched a Eu25bn Note programme for non-benchmark issuance in the single currency.

* The Republic of Lebanon is to sign a Euro-MTN programme on March 8. The programme's documentation was used last week to launch euro and dollar issues raising approximately Eu478m ($538.3m). The ceiling on the debt programme is only Eu550m, for reasons of budgetary authorisation, but arranger Merrill Lynch expects it to be increased with the new budget. The programme, which has no 144A option, will largely be used as a public debt shelf, but the borrower may use it for private placements as well. The dealer group consists of the arranger, ABN Amro, Chase, Commerzbank, CSFB, Nomura and Paribas.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the largest ever syndicated loan for a European corporate -- a $25bn credit facility backing Olivetti's audacious $58bn bid for Telecom Italia -- triggered intense debate among bankers this week about the Euroloan market's capacity.

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THE EASTERN German port of Rostock provided a new type of asset for Europe's high yield market this week when it launched a Eu50m 10 year deal via Merrill Lynch. The issue, which paid a coupon of 9.875% to yield a spread of around 620bp over Bunds, provided welcome diversification to the media and telecoms related financings that have been the mainstay of the non-investment grade corporate market.

EUROPEAN corporates this week demonstrated the win/win opportunities available in the euro credit market by launching aggressively priced transactions that nevertheless met strong demand from both retail and institutional investors. Automobile manufacturer DaimlerChrysler launched a Eu600m bond, its largest offering to date; holding company CIR increased its transaction to Eu500m on the back of strong demand; and Italy's Finmeccanica issued Eu300m of floating rate notes. Next week, Carrefour will raise up to Eu1bn of 10 year funds via Barclays and BNP at around 42bp over OATs.

INVESTMENT bankers are bombarding the Brazilian government with bond proposals, including deals similar to Mexico's $1.5bn 1995 floating rate Cetes note, as pressure increases on the republic to crack open the international financing market for the country's cash-starved corporates. Brazil wants to raise $16bn to $30bn this year and is keen to hear any proposal on how to go about it. "There is no way they can do all that, but they need to come back to the market as soon as they can," said one banker in New York.