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Euroweek understands that Deutsche Bank will approach a number of banks over the next two weeks to join the senior debt package backing Finalrealm's bid for United Biscuits. United Biscuits's board has recommended Finalrealm's cash offer, which totalled £1.25bn.

* Abbey National Treasury Services plc Guarantor: Abbey National plc

* KfW International Finance Guarantor: Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau

IN DOLLAR MARKETS, underwriters anxiously await the pioneering $3bn global bond for the World Bank to be lead managed by Goldman Sachs and Lehman. The deal is the first fully integrated on-line bond and market participants are expecting a 10 year deal priced in the low 60s over Treasuries. This level indicates that the borrower has drastically compromised its funding targets to achieve internet fame. A low 60s spread translates into the minus Libor 16bp area, a far cry from the World Bank's customary minus 25bp ceiling.

Austria Creditanstalt has joined the Eu120m senior leveraged debt package backing the recapitalisation of Steiner Industries as a co-arranger. The Austrian bank shares the position with Bank of America and both institutions are sharing the underwriting with lead arranger Merrill Lynch.

It is a happy new year for Julian Van Kan, formerly head of loan syndications at Banque Nationale de Paris, who has become head of syndicated loans at the newly merged French banking group BNP-Paribas. Van Kan will have responsibility for structuring, distribution and the sale of the loan product in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Japan. At first glance, Japan jars with the other regions. However, according to Van Kan, the Japanese loan market has similar attributes to the traditional Euromarket.

The World Bank is set to launch a $3bn-plus global bond that will be the first to be offered, distributed and traded on-line, heralding the arrival of the internet at the heart of the international bond markets.

The World Bank is set to launch a $3bn-plus global bond that will be the first to be offered, distributed and traded on-line, heralding the arrival of the internet at the heart of the international bond markets.

EUROWEEK has learnt that UBS Capital has become the most likely acquirer of Alfa Laval, after Charterhouse Development Capital saw its exclusivity period expire over the year end. Most market observers thought that Charterhouse, with arrangers Merrill Lynch and Salomon Smith Barney, would launch the senior debt backing the acquisition of Alfa Laval to co-arrangers in the first two weeks of January.

Nigeria The $160m Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) shipping project financing was signed in late December after a strong performance in the market. It achieved a 100% hit rate from the 13 banks invited to come into the deal.

MERRILL LYNCH plans to list Pacific Dunlop subsidiary Ansell Healthcare on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $175m for the Australian group. The condoms to rubber gloves manufacturer will not list domestically because of the international nature of its business, say bankers. The majority of both manufacturing and sales are overseas, with the US dominant.

ARGENTINA has become the first emerging market borrower to tap the international markets this year with a Eu750m euro benchmark bond. The deal, led by CSFB and Deutsche Bank, is the biggest euro denominated new issue by an emerging market borrower and is the first of an approximate $9.8bn the new Argentine administration plans to raise in the international bond markets in 2000 - about $5.4bn of which is expected in dollars and the rest in euros and yen.