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9513

LEAD managers Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and SBC Warburg Dillon Read received plaudits from their peers for their deal management skills this week as they successfully steered the Russian Federation's first Eurobond of 1998 away from potential disaster. Originally scheduled for launch on Monday, the DM1.25bn 9.375% seven year Euro/144A offering looked in jeopardy after Russian president Boris Yeltsin sacked his entire government in frustration at a lack of progress on economic reforms.

NATIONAL telecom operator, Telefónica, will bolster its equity capital through a Pta600bn ($3.87bn) rights issue in the largest call yet on existing shareholders for a corporate capital increase in the Spanish market. Bank BCH had already announced that it will increase its capital through a $1.1bn rights issue.

ARRANGERS Chase, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers have launched co-arranger syndication of the $10.9bn debt facilities supporting Texas Utilities' bid for the Energy Group. The fully underwritten financing is split between a £3.625bn non-recourse facility and a $5bn corporate facility.

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THE sale of stock in TCNZ (Telecom Corporation of New Zealand) is progressing well with global co-ordinators CSFB and Merrill Lynch marketing the stock to investors in international roadshows. Reports from the local market point to a heavy level of participation by individual investors in both Australia and the domestic market.

THE Republic of Turkey this week completed the third leg of its Eurobond issuance programme for 1998, launching a DM1bn eight year offering via Commerzbank and Credit Suisse First Boston. The B1/B rated sovereign has raised almost $1.5bn out of a total $3.5bn funding requirement for 1998 so far this year. This follows the launch of a DM1bn five year offering in January and a $400m seven year transaction in February.

UNION BANK of Switzerland has won the battle for control of the syndicated loan business in Warburg Dillon Read -- the investment arm of the new United Bank of Switzerland. Jonathon Macdonald will head the group in London, after a impressive stint as head of syndicated loans for UBS in Hong Kong. And bankers say most of the new loan department will be dominated by UBS staff.

Barclays and Midland have won the mandate to arrange the £200m credit facility for Arriva Automotive Solutions Plc, formerly called Cowie Financial Holdings. Barclays is joint bookrunner and documentation agent and Midland is joint bookrunner and facility agent. The loan is a five year revolving credit that will finance the borrower's car leasing operations. It is priced at 30bp over Libor with a commitment fee of 15bp.

UK UTILITY United Utilities Plc underlined the growing US investor appetite for Yankee bonds from British-based companies this week with a $500m 10 year offering led by JP Morgan. The deal, launched at 89bp, is the latest in a string of UK-based utilities that have launched Yankee bonds in the past nine months. It comes just weeks after Cable & Wireless Communications blitzed the Yankee market with its $1.8bn multi-tranche deal, the largest UK deal yet.

THE US stockmarkets followed the pattern established in recent weeks, with both the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices climbing steadily at the beginning of the week only to subside by Thursday as investors consolidated gains. Although many participants anticipated that the Dow would hit the 9,000 mark for the first time, other buyers appeared to be on the sidelines, taking stock of recent rises and the mid-April corporate reporting season.

VOLKSWAGEN and Allianz will shortly begin rights increases, signalling the largest and most concentrated increase in the supply of German stock yet. "The continuing performance of the local stock exchange has pushed these groups to take advantage of the maximum valuations which investors are attaching to their stock," commented one banker. "The current conditions should also allow these companies to attempt to shave off something on the discount offered to existing investors, although with many of these established groups, this principle would be very difficult to put into practice."