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THE CONTRAST between the scenes at two of Egypt's most prized historical sites on Monday could hardly have been starker. At the pyramids just outside Cairo, a group of international bankers were attending a ceremony marking Egypt's largest ever private sector syndicated loan facility in the form of a $250m revolving credit for Apache Corporation.

THE UNDERWRITING phase of the $8bn facilities backing the demerger of BAT Industries plc's tobacco and financial services businesses has been an outstanding success. The facilities, arranged by lead arrangers and underwriters Barclays, Citibank, Goldman Sachs International, Midland Bank and Sumitomo Bank, raised $11.05bn from the 33 underwriters.

BILLITON Plc, the natural resources group, made a triumphant return to the syndicated loans market on Wednesday with a $1.25bn revolving credit facility arranged by Bank of America, Barclays Capital, Chase Manhattan and UBS. The loan follows its successful listing on the London stock market in September, which raised $1.5bn and instantly propelled it into the top half of the FTSE-100,

THE COST of European borrowing continues to fall in part because a number of banks are approaching year end and finding themselves starved of assets. This week two deals in the market for Polygram and Packard Bell highlighted the trend in the Dutch market.

Croatia Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank has completed the DM35m five year revolving credit for Raiffeisenbank Austria dd (Zagreb) on a club deal basis.

France The hugely popular Ffr 50bn two-tranche facility and Ffr 10bn swingline facility arranged for Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale (Cades) by Banque Nationale de Paris, Crédit Agricole Indosuez, Dresdner Bank Luxembourg SA, JP Morgan Securities Ltd, NatWest Markets and Union Bank of Switzerland was signed on November 14th by power of attorney.

THE GAZPROM entourage arrives in London today (Friday) to promote the second instalment of its colossal 1997 borrowing campaign. Presentations were held in Frankfurt on Wednesday and in Paris on Thursday. Bankers report that there has been a positive response to the $3bn eight year loan arranged by Crédit Lyonnais and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson even though there has been one celebrated departure from the original team of underwriting co-arrangers -- Crédit Agricole reportedly taking fright at the transaction. One banker describes the response to this exit as a "mountain made out of a molehill."

India SocGen Asia has the verbal mandate to arrange a $50m term loan to fund the Maharashtra State Electricity Board's equity participation in the Dabhol power project.

Argentina ABN AMRO Bank is due to launch syndication of its US$100m five year loan-style FRN for oil and gas company, Tecpetrol next week.

Oman Signing of the $2bn project finance loan being arranged by ABN AMRO Bank, NatWest Markets, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Citibank International, Crédit Agricole Indosuez, Gulf International Bank and Korea Exchange Bank for Oman LNG LLC took place on November 12 in London.

BANKERS predicting the failure of Sberbank's maiden foray in the syndicated loan market were rudely proved wrong this week. The $200m facility for Russia's largest bank, originally mandated to West Merchant Bank in August -- since when NatWest Markets has entered as a joint arranger -- has reportedly attracted commitments from some 40 banks, the largest number ever to have participated in such a facility. Among those, several were taking Russian exposure for the first time.

Corporates Barclays has completed the £105m five year revolving credit priced at 22.5bp over Libor for Close Brothers Ltd. The facility closed oversubscribed and has been increased to £130m ahead of signing on December 12.