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6029

MERRILL Lynch showed its determination to remain the leading firm in international fixed income when it introduced a radical shake-up to the senior management of its global debt markets division this week. Reporting lines have been simplified across the operating structure of the debt markets division following a comprehensive review undertaken by the new head of global debt markets, Kelly Martin, since his appointment in October.

Egypt Arranger Greenwich NatWest has closed oversubscribed the $260m offshore limited recourse tranche funding the construction of a steel mill being developed by Ezz Heavy Industries.

* The Province of Naples has mandated Merrill Lynch to arrange a Eu250m Euro-MTN programme. The programme is rated Aa3 by Moody's, and Naples becomes the first Italian province to be rated. The facility is the first Euro-MTN programme from an Italian province.

5997

THE NATIONAL Bank of Hungary this week returned to the fixed rate segment of the Euro-Deutschmark sector for the first time since 1995. The DM500m seven year offering was joint lead managed by Bayerische Landesbank and Deutsche Bank, which fought off stiff competition from Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Commerzbank to secure the eagerly awaited mandate. The Baa2/BBB-/BBB rated issue featured a 4.625% coupon to give a launch spread of 100bp over the 6.5% October 2005 Bund at the re-offer price of 99.81.

* Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva is diversifying its funding sources with the establishment of a $100m Euro-commercial paper programme. The Euro-CP facility, arranged by Bank Austria Creditanstalt, is believed to be the first to be set up by a central and eastern European corporate. The programme allows for issuance in all major global funding currencies as well as Croatian kunas. Said one German banker: "This is an efficient and clever thing for Pliva to do as they don't have the funding needs to justify the cost involved in setting up an MTN programme, but a Euro-CP programme will still help them up their investor profile internationally."

General Motors Acceptance Corp Rating: A2/A

OVERWHELMING investor interest in Pemex's $1.5bn and Telefónica del Perú's $150m asset backed deals this week has encouraged other Latin corporates to dust off shelved structured deals for offer in the new year. On Monday Pemex formally priced a $1.5bn four tranche oil receivables issue, including two MBIA wrapped portions, (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter joint books) which was followed on Wednesday by an even more tightly priced $150m debut issue by Telefónica del Perú (TdP), led by JP Morgan.

6032

THE SECOND largest radio station in the US went public this week, raising a total of $2.87bn, putting it just behind Conoco's IPO in terms of size. The IPO for Infinity Broadcasting was part of a spin-off by parent company CBS Corp of its radio network. The deal had been closely watched since the firm filed with the SEC in September. Although some observers questioned the high valuation of the offering, investors were attracted by Infinity's strong profile and healthy profits. Last year its profits more than doubled compared to 1996.