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WARBURG Dillon Read and Merrill Lynch have been appointed as global co-ordinators for the flotation of Amadeus Global Travel Distribution, the airline reservation and distribution systems group. The company, which is owned by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa and Continental Airlines, plans to list on the Madrid stock exchange. After floating, Amadeus will be valued at around $2.5bn, making the deal one of the largest sales of non-privatisation equity to be hosted by the Madrid market.

WARBURG Dillon Read has been appointed global co-ordinator for the $400m sale of Neopost, the world's second largest manufacturer of franking machines. The company will be floated on the Paris market in September in what will be one of the largest corporate deals in the French equity markets over the next few months. New issue activity in the third and fourth quarter will be dominated by the government's privatisation programme. But investors will also have their pick of privately owned equity through sales such as Neopost.

* Warburg Dillon Read and Cazenove have been appointed to lead manage the sale of Cantrell & Cockrane, the Irish soft drinks producer. The deal, which will involve the spin-off of the company from Allied Domecq, may still involve a trade sale, and Goldman Sachs are advising the company on the possibilities. * General Optica, the Spanish producer of spectacles, is to list in Madrid in an IPO worth around $200m in November. This will involve the sale of stock to international and local investors.

GLOBAL co-ordinator Warburg Dillon Read is to launch the international sale of shares in the Greek cellular company, Panafon, in the final quarter of 1998. The deal is timed to appear after the $10bn sale of stock in Swisscom which the firm is leading with JP Morgan.

THE FLOW of reverse convertibles continues despite signs of new issue fatigue among investors that have absorbed a record number of these synthetic instruments in the last few months. Nine transactions were launched this week, although salesmen say that in the current market weakness there are not many stocks trading in the correct pattern to back a reverse CB.

THE FRENCH government will launch the next leg of its privatisation programme after the summer break with the sale of stock in insurance group Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance (CNP) through global co-ordinator ABN Amro Rothschild. The appointment is a coup for the Dutch firm and is a spin-off from its role as advisor to the Trésor. Although ABN is joined by CDC Marchés and Warburg Dillon Read as joint lead managers, this is the first time the French government has appointed a foreign bank as lead for a privatisation.

FOLLOWING last week's successful, if bumpy, New York Stock Exchange debut by German software SAP, chemical group BASF this week confirmeded that it too will join the big board. Since 1993, a number of the larger German industrial and banking groups have looked toward the US markets to access the deep pockets of capital on offer as well as to facilitate expansion through the purchase of US companies, using fully registered shares.

GLOBAL co-ordinators Schroders and Mediobanca may be joined in senior roles by Warburg Dillon Read and Lehman Brothers in the sale of stock in Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). The Italian government plans to sell a Lit7tr stake in BNL in October and bankers speculate that the addition of two international firms indicates that the bank expects a large distribution of shares outside the home market.

Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Barclays and Deutsche are due to sign the $6bn credit facility for Pearson today (Friday). The loan -- which backs Pearson Plc's bid with Hicks, Muse, Tate & Frustra for Simon & Schuster, the US media firm that specialises in educational literature and is being sold by Viacom -- was well received in the various stages of syndication. The package consists of a $1.5bn 364 day facility, a $2bn five year revolver and a $2.5bn five year term loan.