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* SBC Warburg Dillon Read has revealed the selling syndicate for the forthcoming flotation of Rhodia, the specialty chemicals unit being spun off by French corporate Rhône-Poulenc. The deal, which will raise around $1bn for the parent, will take place in the next month and will involve a large international placement. After the IPO, Rhodia will be listed in Paris as well as New York (in a fully registered deal), where some 30% of Rhodia's shares will be traded. The lead manager will have sole books and will be joined by DLJ, Bear Stearns, Bankers Trust Alex Brown, Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Paribas and Crédit Agricole Indosuez as co-lead managers. BNP, Crédit Lyonnais, ABN Amro Rothschild, CCF, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Nomura will be co-managers.

SEVERAL US equity issues were delayed or reduced this week as the US stockmarkets were dragged down by investors' fears of an increase in interest rates. For instance, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter delayed its $432m IPO for Unicapital Corp, which it had expected to complete yesterday, for another week. Although the firm completed its secondary offer for JDA Software Group the deal stumbled in the uncertain market and the selling shareholder decided to withdraw the 400,000 shares it had intended to sell. A total of 2m shares were sold, down slightly from the original 2.4m, raising a total of $92m. The company's stock price had already traded down last week to $50.5625, from the $52 at which it was launched and it continued to slide this week. The lead manager priced the shares at $46, a small discount to the close on Wednesday of $46.125.

SBC WARBURG Dillon Read this week won the mandate for a sale of shares in Helsinki Telecom, one of two international share issues this year in Finnish telecoms operators. The deal will raise around $250m and is to come to the market in June. Helsinki Telecom was originally formed as a mutual society and was owned by its members before its IPO which incorporated the group as a public company. This forthcoming transaction will involve the sale of primary and secondary stock which will be targeted at international and local investors. Joining the lead managers will be Enskilda Securities as international co-lead manager with Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and HSBC as co-managers. The second deal is in national group, Telecom Finland, which is to arrive on the markets this autumn in an offer which

ALTHOUGH the weakness of the US dollar dragged the Amsterdam stockmarket downwards this week, the appetite for small to mid cap Dutch corporate stocks remains firm, encouraged by the country's imminent participation in European monetary union. Several primary and secondary deals are making their way to the market from both domestic and international lead managers. Next week, HSBC and Rabo Securities will complete the sale of stock in Prolion, the Dutch manufacturer of cattle milking machines.

MANNESMANN, the German industrial giant, revealed details of its capital increase this week against the backdrop of an equity market bolstered by the surprise announcement that Chrysler and Daimler-Benz will merge. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Merrill Lynch are leading the DM3bn Mannesmann deal with DMG running the books on the local tranche, supported by a syndicate of domestic savings and co-operative banks assembled to target German retail investors. Co-lead managers in the German tranche will be Bayerische Landesbank, Commerzbank, DG Bank, Dresdner Bank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and WestLB.

* A slew of lead management mandates for Eurobond issues by central and eastern European sovereigns is set to be announced at the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development's annual general meeting in Kiev next week. Among the keenly awaited awards are the lead role on a DM300m five to seven year benchmark Euro-DM offering by the Ba1/BBB-/BB+ rated Republic of Lithuania and the bookrunner's mandate for a $300m-$500m equivalent five to 10 year issue in Deutschmarks, US dollars or euros by the Ba3/BB-/BB rated Republic of Kazakhstan. Russia may announce the lead managers and the currency denomination of the Ba3/BB-/BB+ rated Russian Federation's third Eurobond this year, expected to emerge in June. Following issues in Deutschmarks and Italian lire this year, a debut issue in euros or a dollar issue in either Eurobond, global or Yankee form are seen as the most likely possibilities. Meanwhile, finance officials from the B2 rated Republic of Ukraine are mulling a third international bond issue in addition to the Samurai (Nomura) and Eurodollar (Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and JP Morgan) transactions the country has already mandated.

THE SLOVAK Republic is to launch a Euromarket financing of up to $1bn equivalent next week in a move that should enable the embattled country to set simultaneous benchmarks in three of the world's major currencies.

THE SLOVAK Republic is to launch a Euromarket financing of up to $1bn equivalent next week in a move that should enable the embattled country to set simultaneous benchmarks in three of the world's major currencies. Denominated in dollars, Deutschmarks and yen, the bond financing package will also represent the sternest possible test of investor sentiment towards a country that has been plagued by economic and political uncertainty over the past year. The ambitious transaction will mark the first occasion on which the Slovak Republic has tapped the international bond markets in its own name -- previous transactions have been conducted via the country's central bank, the National Bank of Slovakia.

GLOBAL co-ordinators Salomon Smith Barney and Türkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi this week successfully completed the sale of stock in Isbank, Turkey's leading private commercial bank, reinforcing hopes of the country becoming one of the most vibrant emerging market equity plays of 1998.

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