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BNP Paribas, Citigroup/SSSB, SG, Crédit Lyonnais with Crédit Agricole Indosuez, Goldman Sachs, Natexis Banques Populaires and Royal Bank of Scotland signed commitment letters on Tuesday for Vivendi Universal's Eu2.5bn loan. Underwriters plan to sell off exposure and will launch the deal into syndication soon.

George Wimpey has quietly tapped the market for a £225m loan. EuroWeek hears that seven relationship banks - probably including Royal Bank of Scotland, SMBC, Danske and Allied Irish Bank - have underwritten the deal which was co-ordinated by Lloyds.

CSFB and Merrill Lynch have, ahead of close, received 15 commitments to the senior debt portion and 10 to the mezzanine tranche of the debt facilities backing the buy-out of gaming and casino business Gala. The number of commitments justifies confidence that the deal would succeed.

Citigroup/SSSB, Commerzbank and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein this week launched Merck's Eu900m revolver into syndication. Two takes are on offer to the market: Eu75m for 10bp on tranche 'A' and 20bp for tranche 'B', and Eu40m for 7bp and 14bp respectively.

The Hellenic Republic priced its debut euro zone inflation linked transaction on Tuesday, taking advantage of strong demand for the product to increase its size from Eu700m to Eu1.25bn. Lead managers JP Morgan, National Bank of Greece and UBS Warburg had built an order book of some Eu1.5bn for the 2025 deal. Christoforos Sardelis, director general of the Greek public debt management agency (PDMA), told EuroWeek that he was happy to approve an increase because the deal was then eligible for a broader range of indices so he could offer larger allocations to key accounts.

Amount: $1bn Maturity: perpetual

Guarantor: Hellenic Republic Rating: A1/A

Rating: A1/A/A Amount: Sfr500m

Rating: A1/A/A Amount: Eu1.25bn inflation-linked issue

Bank Austria Creditanstalt (joint bookrunner) and DZ Bank (joint bookrunner) have signed banks into the Eu75m five year bullet facility for HVB Bank Hungary. The deal was oversubscribed and increased to Eu80m. Baden-Württembergische Bank joined as a senior arranger. Erste Bank, Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz and LB Kiel joined as arranger. BayernLB was a senior lead manager.

The HK$200m three year term loan for Samson Paper is heading for an oversubscription following a positive response from the market. Eight banks have committed to the deal with a further 15 banks considering the facility.

Amount: $3.5bn Issue price: 100.00