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ELAN, the Irish pharmaceuticals group, raised $750m this week through the sale of Liquid Yield Option Notes (Lyons) via Merrill Lynch, taking advantage of a bullish week for pharmaceutical stocks. "This was a perfectly timed deal that accessed an important area of demand," said a salesman. The deal tapped into a market teaming with activity in the pharmaceuticals, drugs and chemicals sectors.

Argentina * HSBC Banco Roberts SA

DEUTSCHE Bank, arranger of the debt backing Legal & General Ventures Ltd's (LGV) acquisition of Emtec Magnetic, has closed general syndication after a slight oversubscription was raised. The arranger hopes to sign the deal before Christmas. Senior debt totals DM233m, consisting of a DM143m 5-1/2 year term loan (Term 'A') that carries a margin of 175bp over Libor, a DM40m seven year term loan (Term 'B') that carries a margin of 237.5bp over Libor and a DM50m six year revolving credit that carries a margin of 162.5bp over Libor.

THE SPANISH government is seeking to take advantage of recovering stockmarkets to continue its hugely successful privatisation programme and may sell a stake in pulp and paper group, Ence, as early as the first quarter. Traditionally, European governments are reluctant to approach the markets early in the year, although Spain has been the exception. Its first large deal of 1998 was the sale of stock in Argentaria, in January. Before that, the government sold its final chunk of Repsol stock in January 1996.

Comptoir des Entrepreneurs Rating: A3 (S&P ADEF)

JOINT LEAD managers Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Warburg Dillon Read completed the flotation for Finland's Fortum yesterday (Thursday), raising some FIM5.6bn. The company was created in June to combine the operations of natural gas and electricity utility IVO and oil and chemicals state company Neste with the aim of creating a leading European energy group serving the Northern European market.

THIS week's sale of stock in Funespaña illustrated the strong demand which should lead to a busy start to the year in the Spanish equity market, when a wide variety of corporate offerings are expected, by pricing close to the top of its indicated range. Funespaña's flotation involved the sale of between 30% and 35% of the group's equity capital represented by 3,373,384 shares, with a mixture of primary shares and secondary stock.

Republic of Italy Rating: Aa3/AA

DO WE SENSE the winds of change within the debt capital markets group at Merrill Lynch? If you are mentally saying to yourself, "and about time too", you are being unnecessarily churlish. However, we have been saying for weeks that Merrill's bondies had lost their fizz and sparkle. Didn't we recommend that Merrill kick some tired old butt out of the door and bring in new blood?

IBJ IS TO arrange the refinancing for the AES Barry Ltd merchant power plant in south Wales. The original deal -- for one of the UK's first non-peaking merchant plants -- was signed in September 1997, and arranged by IBJ. The refinancing is to be orientated towards increasing tenor rather than improving the pricing.

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