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BRITISH Telecom confirmed its status as one of the Euromarket's top corporate credits this week when it achieved rapid and successful distribution of £600m of 30 year bonds. The issue was initially launched at £500m, but the £100m increase made BT's the largest ever sterling bond from a UK corporate.

BRITISH Airways broke new ground in the development of credit products in the single currency market this week when it launched the first European corporate preferred security denominated in euros. The Eu300m non-voting cumulative preferred perpetual bond, lead managed by Warburg Dillon Read, was sold to investors throughout Europe. Bankers said that the appeal of the name, the attractive 6.75% coupon and the rarity of the product ensured strong demand.

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FREDDIE Mac will announce details of its Callable Reference Note programme today (Friday) as the global market for callable product quickly gathers pace. The US agency's formal announcement comes a week after the launch of its first callable reference issue which, together with the first two issues from Fannie Mae's own Callable Benchmark Note programme, should establish the callable asset class as a fixture in the global bond markets -- much like the two agencies' bullet issuance programmes.

Market commentary Compiled by Jim Webber, TD Securities, London, Tel: +44 171 282 8216

CITIBANK has won the mandate to arrange a $1.5bn revolving credit for Zurich Financial Services and Zurich Insurance Company that will refinance a $1bn 364 day credit first established in 1997. The loan has a maturity of five years and a margin of 20bp over Libor. A utilisation fee of 2.5bp is available if more than 50% of the credit is drawn and the commitment fee is 9bp.

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Chile's state-run Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, became the first Chilean borrower to follow the sovereign's blowout debut last week when it launched its own inaugural offering of $300m of 10 year bonds. The A- rated 144A deal, led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, was priced yesterday (Thursday) to yield 7.377% or 217bp over Treasuries, in the middle of its 215bp to 220bp price talk range, after attracting $540m of orders.

* Stadtsparkasse Köln Rating: Aa3

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SPRINT Capital Corp and Delphi Automotive Systems stole the limelight in the US corporate bond market this week with respective $3.5bn and $1.5bn blow-out global bonds that took advantage of a continued investor thirst for high yielding triple-B rated bonds. Demand for the Baa1/BBB+ rated Sprint Capital Corp bonds was such that underwriters Warburg Dillon Read and Salomon Smith Barney increased the size of the deal from $3bn to $3.5bn and priced all of the five, 10 and 20 year tranches at the tighter end of the spread range.