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French francs --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE FRENCH government is poised to announce which banks have won the mandate to lead manage the flotation of Air France, following presentations from around 50 banks. The airline has a book value of around $12bn and may be floated in the second half of this year, possibly after the summer break.

BAYERISCHE Landesbank (Balaba) this week became the latest bank to fall victim to fallout from the Asian crisis as Fitch IBCA placed its individual rating of B on RatingWatch with negative implications. The rating agency will conduct a detailed review of the bank's exposure to southeast Asia before deciding on further action. Balaba's long term triple-A rating has been affirmed.

* Inter-American Development Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

THE NATIONAL Bank of Hungary (NBH) this week returned to the Eurobond market for the first time since April 1996, launching a DM500m five year floating rate note transaction via DG Bank. The deal was also its first wholly investment grade issue in the Euromarkets. With a coupon set at 37.5bp over three month Deutschmark Libor the deal was priced to yield 44.4bp at the 99.685 re-offer -- a record low for the Baa3/BBB- rated issuer in the Euromarkets and, controversially, 5bp inside the trading spread on the Baa1/ BBB- rated Hellenic Republic's most recent Deutschmark floater.

India National Thermal Power Corp's ¥18.34bn refinancing was signed on January 14 in Hong Kong with 15 international participants.

EQUITY INVESTORS are looking forward to a couple of major privatisations from Portugal this year, following a string of successful state sales over the past two and a half years. The first deal is likely to be the strategic sale of a 5% stake in Eletricidade de Portugal (EdP), the electricity utility. Endesa of Spain and Germany's RWE are among the bidders. While Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and Credit Suisse First Boston are participating in the sale process.

THE ITALIAN privatisation programme is entering a new phase with the forthcoming sale of stock in AEM, the local electricity utility, coupled with plans for a sale of shares in Alitalia in the second or third quarter. Goldman Sachs has long been in position for the sale of stock in AEM, which should reach the markets in the coming months and raise $500m. The transaction will include a strong element of support from the domestic retail market.

* Crediop Overseas Guarantor: Crediop SpA

Argentina SBC Warburg has launched syndication of a $200m six month facility for Argentine national mortgage bank Banco Hipotecario Nacional.