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KfW launches Eu25bn note programme to assist in drive to become Bund surrogate KREDITANSTALT für Wiederaufbau this week put in place the final piece of its funding jigsaw which, the German state development agency hopes, will make it seen as the Bund surrogate, when it launched a Eu25bn Note programme for non-benchmark issuance in the single currency.

THE LOAN market in Eastern Europe may be starting to pick up but concerns persist about the strength of banks in the Czech Republic. Komercni Banka and Ceska Sporitelna recently requested proposals for loans but received few offers. The common explanation is that Russian exposure and queries over asset quality have dented confidence, and bankers are waiting to see audited end-of-year figures for 1998, which are due out at the end of March. Some Czech banks have portfolios with over 25% bad loans, and a general restructuring programme is underway.

EARLY indications suggest that syndication of the £2.6bn facilities backing Scottish Power's £4.2bn all-share bid for PacifiCorp has proved to be an enormous success. The financing, sole arranged by Royal Bank of Scotland, is split into two parts. The first is a £2bn package that is a revamping of Scottish Power's 1996 £2.6bn revolving credit that carries a margin of 45bp and a commitment fee of 17.5bp on any part of the facility that is undrawn.

Argentina Citibank NA, BankBoston NA and Deutsche Bank AG have completed syndication of the $200m 18 month facility for Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA (TGS).

DEUTSCHE Bank this week executed the sale of stock in Medion, the consumer electronics assembler. The deal was many times oversubscribed which allowed the lead manager to price the stock at the top end of the indicated price range -- DM85. The sale comes on the back of a continuing boom in high growth stocks on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt, with each successive IPO inspiring further levels of demand from local retail investors and international small-cap funds.

MOHEGAN American Indians charged into the US high yield market this week to raise $500m for its casino -- the biggest tribal gaming bond yet and the most successful junk bond deal of the week, attracting more than $3bn of orders. While the rest of the market

* City of Yokohama Guarantor: Japan

BANK of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is to increase the capital of its London-based investment banking subsidiary, Tokyo-Mitsubishi International. The capital infusion of £185m to take place this month will increase TMI's capital to £333.5m. In conjunction with structural changes, the infusion will increase the status of TMI to a core entity within the bank's global investment banking business, alongside the Tokyo-based Tokyo-Mitsubishi Securities (TMS).

* Deutsche Bank has appointed Paco Zaragoza as head of debt capital markets, Spain. He will be based in London and will report to John Winter, European head of debt capital markets. Zaragoza joins from Merrill Lynch International, where he was a vice president on the southern European desk of the global debt capital markets division.

THE REPUBLIC of Turkey made its keenly awaited debut in the euro sector this week with the launch of a Eu500m five year issue. Joint lead managed by Deutsche Bank and Paribas, the B1/B rated transaction featured a 9.5% headline coupon to give a yield of 9.63% and spread of 622bp over the 6.25% March 2004 Treuhand on a fixed re-offer price of 99.50.

* Barclays Bank plc Rating: Aa3/AA-

France Banque Nationale de Paris, Barclays, Crédit Lyonnais and HSBC are near to wrapping up general syndication of the popular Eu1bn five year revolver for Banque PSA Finance, with only a couple of stragglers holding up the close.