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MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter triumphed this week with two of the largest stock offerings to come to the US market this year. The firm's success was all the more noteworthy as the markets took a serious nose-dive towards the end of the week. Market participants had expected the secondary offer of stock for Safeway to be a success. The food and drug retailer boasts impressive profits, a dominant market share in its sector and has no direct exposure to Asia. The company had already overcome an unfavourable market last December when it raised $1.4bn in a sale of stock from major shareholder Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

* The US leg of the roadshow for the share offering from Valeo kicked off yesterday (Thursday) following a week of presentations in Europe. Bankers said the response from investors at the roadshow for the Merrill Lynch and Société Générale led deal had been positive, especially regarding Valeo's acquisition of the car part unit of ITT Industries, for which the French company is raising capital.

* European Investment Bank

Market report Compiled by Glen Blackley, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

THE HIGH yield market has taken another step forward with the launch last Friday of a high yield bond for Orange, the first FTSE 100 company to tap the European high yield sector. Launched in three tranches together totalling just under £600m the deal is also the largest high yielding financing by a European company in the international market.

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MEXICAN oil company Pemex underscored the success of structured resettable coupon notes this week by increasing its recent $750m issue of such bonds to $1bn. The $250m add-on to the seven/call one year daily adjustable yield securities (DAYS) issue led by Goldman Sachs was launched at par, offering investors a slight discount to the existing bonds, which were trading at 100.10 to 100.20.

Maurice Benisty has joined the media and communications group at BT Alex Brown in London as a vice president. He leaves after four years at Paribas. BT Alex Brown has had a busy year in the media and communications sector with senior involvement in the Turkcell deal in Turkey, the merger of General Cable and Telewest and the high yield bond for NTL.

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FRENCH SPIRITS producer Rémy Cointreau yesterday priced its Eu150m high yield bond, upped from Eu120m on the back of strong demand. Priced at 550bp over the euro benchmark and issued at par, the seven year transaction traded up to 100.625/ 101.25 following launch. The paper was placed 60% in Europe, mainly with UK and French accounts, and 40% in the US.

BANCO Santander this week launched the fourth convertible offering to be denominated in euros with a combined rights and international convertible offering via Salomon Smith Barney. The simultaneous issues are each for Eu300.378m, and raised a total of Pta100bn equivalent for the Spanish bank. Both tranches paid a coupon of 2%, carried a 35% conversion premium, have a maturity of five years and are non-call life. The international convertible offering was issued via a new vehicle for Banco Santander, Santander Finance BV, and the bonds are guaranteed by the parent, which issued the rights offer directly. A Salomon official said that demand for the international offer was substantial. The book built to almost Eu1bn -- more than three times covered.

RENEWED investor concerns over the economic and political challenges facing emerging market borrowers threatened to cast a pall over the launch of the Russian Federation's largest ever international bond this week. However, at a total issue size of $6.43bn -- more than three times the minimum amount targeted by the Russians -- the Goldman Sachs-led GKO exchange and new cash offering succeeded in its primary objective of easing the Ba1/B+/BB rated sovereign's short term liquidity problems, at least for the time being.