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GLOBAL CO-ORDINATOR Merrill Lynch and joint lead manager UBS this week completed the sale of stock in Global Telesystems (GTS) in one of the first transactions this year from a corporate issuer. The company is incorporated in the state of Delaware in the US, but most of its assets are located in Russia and central Europe.

TO HOWLS of disapproval, the Polish government this week awarded the keenly sought mandate to lead manage the flotation of Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) to a consortium of Schroders and Powszechny Bank Kredytowy. Rival investment bankers faulted the process in which the Poles had decided the mandate, claiming that they had been subjected to too many requests for unorthodox underwriting agreements. They also criticised the government for being too inflexible about the structure of the forthcoming deal. Some put forward obscure political reasons for Schroders' success.

GLOBAL CO-ORDINATOR HSBC this week successfully completed the sale of its £400m convertible bond issue for National Grid, the UK electricity company. After marketing the stock to investors over the past few weeks, HSBC formally opened the book for the deal on Monday. The offer period was to have lasted five days, but the lead manager was able to close the orderbook early when it was already several times oversubscribed by high quality accounts.

THE US stockmarket rallied at the beginning of this week with the Dow Jones recording gains of nearly 250 points earlier on. Towards the middle of the week, however, the index fell about 30 points and continued to slip slightly yesterday (Thursday). With the earnings season looming, corporate results have been at the front of investors' minds. Although around 40% of companies have beaten analysts' estimates -- technology stocks have recorded some excellent quarterly results -- some larger companies, such as General Motors, have showed only average growth. The mediocre performance of such blue chips has dampened investor enthusiasm.

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THE Republic of Argentina this week wrapped up all of its first quarter international borrowing requirements with room to spare and became the first emerging market issuer to raise 30 year dollar bonds since the October market collapse, with a $500m re-opening of its global bonds due 2027. The deal was discreetly brought to market by JP Morgan after spotting a technical advantage in the Argentine yield curve that had the 2027s trading five to 10bp tighter than its 2016s.

THE HEAD of steam built up in the dollar primary market showed no sign of easing off as another unprecedented week of benchmark issuance dominated the Euromarkets. Frequent issuers are in no doubt that large, liquid bonds in the core currencies are what investors -- made nervous by the Asian crisis and valuing flexibility and quality above all else -- want to buy.

ABBEY NATIONAL will become the first UK borrower to issue a euro-denominated bond next week when it launches a Eu750m to Eu1bn transaction via Paribas and Salomon Smith Barney. Abbey, rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's, will add a new benchmark in a sector which is steadily moving away from being the preserve of sovereign and supranational issuers.

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UNPRECEDENTED levels of activity in the fixed rate dollar market continued with over $11bn raised in the first four days of this week -- including the largest ever dollar Eurobonds from the World Bank and its sister organisation, the IFC. The supranationals launched benchmark transactions on Tuesday, adding to the $4bn issued by US agency Fannie Mae in the global market the day before. Total fixed rate dollar issuance this year stands at over $39bn, some $13bn more than in the first five weeks of 1997.