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General syndication of the Eu25bn jumbo for Vodafone AirTouch is already heading for a resounding success, after nearly 60 bankers, including many senior officials, attended the presentation on Tuesday. One arranger thought the oversubscription might reach 60%, whereupon banks committing Eu1bn would be cut back to Eu400m.

Volatile swap spreads continued to undermine new issuance this week but many borrowers were not to be put off. This was demonstrated by Brazil's launch of a $1bn 30 year global - hardly a typical transaction for a troubled market. Higher up the rating scale, KfW launched a $2bn five year global that, although buffeted by the swap spread widening of Thursday, successfully tapped into demand across Asia, Europe and the US.

France BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs have won the mandate to provide the debt financing backing Austodistribution SA's proposed takeover of Finelist of the UK.

The flexibility of the loan market has been tested by Ashanti Goldfields, the Ghanaian mining company that nearly collapsed last year. In a bid to stabilise the company and improve its prospects, pricing on an old loan has been reset, and a new facility has been put in place so it can complete its Tanzanian Geita project and for working capital.

South Africa Chase Manhattan and Dresdner Bank have raised an oversubscription for SA Breweries of more than twice the value of the loan.

Hong Kong Arrangers ABN Amro and Barclays Capital have extended the deadline for commitments for the HK$3.5bn five year fundraising for Henderson Land Credit (2000) and Henderson Investment Credit (2000) until next week.

Europe * Avebury Properties Ltd

Australia PowerTel has mandated Chase Manhattan Australia and Toronto-Dominion Australia to arrange a facility for $300m.

* New South Wales Treasury Corp Guarantor: State of New South Wales

Our southern European social correspondent, the voluptuous Marquesa de Bonamour, phones us excitedly from Marbella. Bosom heaving, she says: "Our own little Seve Ballesteros is returning home." The celebrated golfer in question is better known in the City as David Bonsall (handicap 5), doyen of the securitisation market, who has decided to hang up his Hermès ties after more than a decade at the top of his profession.

Barclays Capital acted yesterday (Thursday) to bolster its European leveraged finance expertise by relocating its global head of high yield, Joseph Bencinvenga, to London after about four years of him running the business from New York. Bencinvenga will have direct responsibility for high yield capital markets, working with the sales, trading and research teams and in partnership with Chris Coles, global head of financial sponsor coverage, to develop and expand new issue business. Complimenting Bencinvenga's move across the Atlantic, Barclays also intends to hire over 70 leveraged finance professionals during next two years. Staff will be hired in Barclays' European offices and will be spread throughout the product lines including high yield bonds and leveraged loans.

Bezeq, the Israeli state owned telecoms company, has become the first Israeli company to tap the loan market since 1998. The borrower is raising $70m as a five year term loan, arranged by Sumitomo Bank.