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The Eu1.3bn flotation by Siemens and Matsushita of their joint venture operation Epcos looks to be heading for a successful conclusion, despite lukewarm demand for the shares in Germany. The two owners are jointly divesting 74.9% of Epcos, one of the leading manufacturers of passive electronic components. A total of 42.587m shares will be sold, including 3.3m of primary equity.

n The Dutch government has sold its residual stake in Corus, the renamed group formed by the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens, through a £170m block trade managed by Goldman Sachs. The state, which was advised by Van Kempen, selected Goldman after seeking proposals from a number of investment banks. The shares were bought by the broker at 121.25p.

n Caja de Ahorros y Monte de Piedad de Madrid Rating: Aaa

Financial issuers are finding new issuance conditions tough as a result of general market turbulence and the focus of investors on growth stocks. This week's IPO from investment management firm Neuberger Berman followed last week's flotation from Blackrock. Although both offerings were sold within their price ranges, the erratic performance of the Dow Jones in recent weeks, and falling prices for listed competitors, kept investors on the sidelines until the last minute.

Warburg Dillon Read will next week begin roadshowing the first ever Eurobond by an Egyptian borrower - a $100m five year Euro/144A dollar issue for leading private sector company, Lakah Group. Investor presentations have been scheduled for the Gulf, Europe and the US, with launch likely to take place towards the end of October.

France TELEcom, following its injection of $5.5bn into NTL and purchase of Vodafone Airtouch's 17.24% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk, is widely tipped to bring a sizeable facility to market before the year end. The French telecom giant has been in preliminary talks with its bankers over putting together either a delayed acquisition facility or a new core facility that will tie up existing bilaterals and other pieces of existing debt. It already has a large amount of cash, however, following the sale of its stake in Sprint for Ffr40bn.

Freddie Mac will demonstrate its intent to develop broader and deeper demand for its Reference Note product in Europe when it launches a $4bn three year issue next week. The US agency's funding officials have conducted a series of meetings with UK and continental investors over the past few days to build awareness of its product, and Freddie Mac has also taken the rare step of appointing two European lead managers to the deal. ABN Amro and Warburg Dillon Read will be joined by a sole US firm, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, as bookrunners on the offering.