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FORTIS' capital increase should reach a successful conclusion this weekend after global co-ordinator Warburg Dillon Read closed the books early on the Dutch/Belgian banking group's convertible bond this week. The bank is raising a mixture of convertible debt and straight equity. Although the group wanted to be flexible on the split between the two offerings, it plans to sell a total of 60m shares (with a 10m share greenshoe) with between 15m and 25m backing the bond and the remainder being sold as equity.

CSFB and Cazenove this week launched the IPO of Freeserve, the internet services provider subsidiary of Dixons of the UK, in a transaction that could give the group a market capitalisation of up to £2bn. Despite keen anticipation in the run-up to the flotation, some bankers this week voiced their concern about the deal and its sector as investors proved nervous about the prospects for hi-tech stocks.

n DePfa Rating: Aa3/AA

LEAD ARRANGERS Chase Manhattan, Chase Securities, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Bank Securities have launched the mammoth $17bn package of revolving credits for DaimlerChrysler into general syndication. The debt package consists of $12bn of revolving credits in favour of DaimlerChrysler North America Holding Corporation and a $5bn multicurrency revolving credit for DaimlerChrysler AG and several of its affiliates.

Further proof that the leading central and eastern European economies have managed to put the past two years' emerging market crises behind them was provided on Friday (June 24) when Moody's Investors Service upgraded Hungary's foreign currency sovereign ceiling from Baa2 to Baa1. The outlook on the rating is stable. Standard & Poor's last month raised its foreign currency rating for Poland to BBB from BBB-.

The Inter-American Development Bank rekindled the international market for yen securities this week when it launched a ¥100bn global bond - the first major yen offering for 16 months. Bankers said the IADB's issue was a huge tonic for the long moribund Euroyen market, which has effectively been shut since early 1998 due to a lack of arbitrage and investor interest.

The Inter-American Development Bank rekindled the international market for yen securities this week when it launched a ¥100bn global bond - the first major yen offering for 16 months. Bankers said the IADB's issue was a huge tonic for the long moribund Euroyen market, which has effectively been shut since early 1998 due to a lack of arbitrage and investor interest.

India Arranger State Bank of India will launch a $72m three year loan for National Thermal Power Corporation next week. The margin will be 100bp with the fee structure still being finalised. Proceeds will be used for a refinancing.

New issuance on Germany's Neuer Markt is regaining momentum after two months of poor price performance and diminishing investor interest. This week several deals have commanded healthy interest, partly as a result of lead managers establishing a deeper investor base among institutional buyers which are likely to be long term holders.

ICC INVESTMENT Bank is to return to the Euroloan market with a Eu900m 364 day multicurrency revolver through arrangers Bank of Ireland, Banque Nationale de Paris, Den Danske and Greenwich NatWest. ICC was last in the market in June 1998 with a Eu350m (increased from Eu200m) 3-1/2 year revolving credit - the first euro denominated facility for an Irish borrower. That deal, arranged by ABN Amro and Den Danske, carried a margin of 12.5bp over Libor with participation fees of 4bp for commitments of Eu15m and 3bp for Eu7.5m.

ollar swap spreads continue to oscillate in an unpredictable fashion. They widened in the early part of the week as the impending FOMC meeting loomed, but then contracted later in the week, apparently due to fears of considerable new issue supply. On Thursday, the 10 year swap sector traded in a 2bp range between 82bp over the 10 year Treasury and 84bp. The five year market swung between 69bp and 70.5bp. The positive correlation that existed between Treasuries and swaps has been broken, with spreads moving wider despite selling in the government sector.