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Mandated lead arrangers of the £426.4m term loan supporting the construction of Wembley Stadium have signed in two sub-underwriters and two banks for large take-and-hold commitments in an initial stage of senior syndication. SCH and BBVA have joined as sub-underwriters and Bank of Ireland and Hamburgische Landsbank have committed take-and-hold tickets.

Rating: Aa3/AA-/AA- Amount: A$1.575bn

Rating: Baa2/BB+/BBB Amount: ¥43bn

Debut issuer Morgan Stanley Dean Witter re-opened the European market for credit card receivables this week, with the debut offering from its new master trust closing oversubscribed. The deal's close is the culmination of a process that began when Morgan Stanley issued its first credit cards in the UK in 1999 with a view to securitising them. The bank has followed a similar strategy with its Discover Card programme in the US, which is now a regular issuer.

UBS Warburg and Banco Espírito Santo this week brought a Eu500m wrapped transaction for Rede Ferroviária Nacional (Refer), the Portuguese railway infrastructure company. The deal is Refer's first term financing not to be explicitly guaranteed by the Portuguese sovereign. "We marketed it as a Eu350m deal," said a syndicate official at UBS Warburg in London. "The fact that we were able to increase it so much demonstrates the success of the process. It opens up an opportunity for the company to borrow in its own right, without a guarantee."

The region of Sicily will shortly close a Eu645m innovative securitisation of receivables owed to 25 healthcare companies, arranged by Nomura. The deal, which will start marketing next week for launch in early February, illustrates the increasingly popular use of securitisation by Italian regions, particularly to tackle healthcare deficits.

UK mortgage lender Northern Rock (NR) this week set the tone for the UK RMBS market with a successful return to its Granite master trust, launching its largest issue yet worth more than £3bn equivalent. Lead managed by Citigroup/SSSB and Merrill Lynch, the deal was closely followed by market observers as a gauge of investor appetite after the glut of UK RMBS in the final quarter of last year - and ahead of a benchmark issue from HBoS in the coming weeks.

Telecom Italia, Italy's dominant telco, this week launched a Eu100m tap issue from its securitisation programme, secured on billed and unbilled telephone receivables. Telecom Italia was the first, and to date the only European incumbent to tap the term securitisation market, launching a Eu700m issue via BNP Paribas and West LB in June 2001.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is nearing the market with a securitisation of non-performing loans for Pirelli & C Real Estate. The deal, due to reach the market in March, will securitise a portfolio of secured loans principled by Pirelli with a gross book value of Eu200m. The portfolio, which will be serviced by Pirelli's own servicing arm, will be split into a highly rated, short dated senior bond, worth Eu40m-Eu50m, a Eu10m-Eu15m mezzanine tranche, and a Eu20m equity layer. The mezzanine bond will not be offered, but may be retained by either Dresdner or Pirelli.

Jerry Woods, managing director in fixed income and 20-plus year veteran of Morgan Stanley in New York, will join Credit Suisse First Boston next month as global co-head of fixed income. An official familiar with the new structure said Woods will work alongside Jim Healy, executive board member and global head of the emerging markets group, who will be named as the other co-head. CSFB watchers said Jack DiMaio, head of fixed income for North America, and Trevor Price, head of the firm's rates business, were passed over for the role of co-head in favor of Woods. DiMaio and Price did not return calls by press time.