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Market commentary: Compiled by Jim Webber,

Swap rates held up this week, in the face of a deluge of new euro denominated bonds. Much is still to come - a great deal of which will be swapped. Ten year swaps traded around 51-53bp over the July 2009 Bund, while five year swaps were around 34-37bp over cash for much of the week.

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Mounting supply pressures quickly took over in the US market this week where interest rate concerns left off, causing a number of large new issues to succumb to investor demands for wider spreads. While Wells Fargo was able to pounce on a brief corporate bond rally to issue a $1.5bn global after the Fed announced a 25bp rate hike and return to neutral monetary bias on Tuesday, issuers such as Tyco International Ltd were forced to widen out spread talk to get US domestic deals done on Thursday.

DEUTSCHE BANK has launched the jumbo Eu4.1bn multi-tranche credit backing Linde's Skr30.9m bid for AGA of Sweden. The loan consists of a Eu2.6bn one year term loan (A1), a Eu1bn three year term loan (A2) and a Eu500m one year revolver.

Oman CIBC World Markets has signed a £10m line of credit, supported by the UK's Export Credits Guarantee Department, that will finance contracts between UK companies supplying plant and equipment and associated companies in the Sultanate of Oman as approved by the Oman International Bank.

n Chase Manhattan has hired four new staff for its international fixed income capital markets team in Europe. All report to Yann Gindre, head of capital markets for international fixed income in Europe. Jean-Louis Ebelin has joined as a vice president and head of European corporate origination. He was formerly at Commerzbank where he was a director and co-head of spread origination.

n Israeli power utility Israel Electric Corp (IEC) this week was forced to shelve its plans for a debut euro denominated bond after the country's finance ministry insisted it switch its funding focus to the Yankee bond market. The ministry ordered the change because IEC's planned euro issue has run up against a number of covenant-related issuance restrictions which could have delayed it by several months.

Market commentary: Compiled by Glenn Blackley,

Jean-Maurice Elkouby has joined the structured finance division of Crédit Lyonnais's syndication team in London. Elkouby joins from Royal Bank of Canada and will report to Charles Bingham.

n BankAustria Rating: Aa2/AA+

APPETITE for the Republic of Portugal's Eu1.5bn three year standby revolving credit has been so strong that arrangers ABN Amro (bookrunner), Bayerische Landesbank (agent and documentation bank), Caixa Geral De Depósitos, DePfa, Greenwich NatWest (bookrunner) and WestLB (bookrunner) have decided against a general syndication. Banks were offered tickets of Eu100m with the debt priced at a margin of 2.75bp over Euribor with a facility fee of 2.75bp attached. A utilisation fee of 1.25bp kicks in if more than 50% of the facility is drawn.