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Guarantor: Volvo AB Rating: A3

Rating: Aa2/AA/AAA Amount: $1.5bn

Sovereign credits continue to dominate the debt markets with ERAP, guaranteed by the French Republic, raising Eu5.4bn of three and seven year securities and Italy raising $1.25bn of five year bonds. KfW issued a $750m four year transaction and Austria is expected today (Friday) with a $500m seven year issue priced in the low 70s over Treasuries. The ERAP deal, which completes the borrower's funding programme for 2003, was oversubscribed to the tune of Eu9bn and was finally allocated as Eu3bn of three year bonds and Eu2.4bn of seven year bonds.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Issue 1: A$55m

Mandated lead arrangers Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and WestLB have completed syndication of the £270m five year multi-currency loan for Wincanton plc. The deal comprises a £155m term loan and a £115m revolver. The margin is linked to a net debt to Ebitda grid and has an out-of-the-box price of 150bp.

Are there changes taking place at Barclays Capital, known affectionately down in the badlands of Canary Wharf as "the house that Bob built"? Friends at other firms say that we are sometimes too kind about BarCap, but there is not a competitor who doesn't admire BarCap's success, and wouldn't they love to be part of an organisation which isn't burdened with underperforming, whinging investment bankers and cash equities traders and salesmen?

Barclays Capital, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have launched the syndication of the $2.27bn loan for Xstrata. Three tickets have been offered to the market of $55m, $35m and $20m. Fees range from 65bp down to 25bp.

The rally in US high yield bonds has prompted Xerox Corp, one of the first high grade credits to blow up last year, to consider returning to the capital markets for about $1bn. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and UBS Warburg are expected to lead a variety of capital markets transactions to refinance a $3.5bn credit facility put in place last year.

News this week that Yukos and Sibneft will merge may be positive for Russia's swiftly developing oil sector but is likely to mean a quieter deal pipeline for the region's debt capital markets bankers. Following soon after February's record breaking $6.75bn partnership agreement between TNK and the UK's BP, Russia's second and fourth largest oil companies will merge to create the world's fourth largest oil producer. The new entity, to be called YukosSibneft, is expected to list in New York by the end of 2004.

Russian loan specialists were this week sizing up the implications of the announced merger between oil firms Yukos and Sibneft. While the merger is far from complete, already some bankers reckon it is likely to change the landscape for Russian loans. It may herald the end of the rich pickings that banks have enjoyed from strong Russian corporates over the past few years.

News this week that Yukos and Sibneft will merge may be positive for Russia's swiftly developing oil sector but is likely to mean a quieter deal pipeline for the region's debt capital markets bankers. Following soon after February's record breaking $6.75bn partnership agreement between TNK and the UK's BP, Russia's second and fourth largest oil companies will merge to create the world's fourth largest oil producer. The new entity, to be called YukosSibneft, is expected to list in New York by the end of 2004.