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Banks were signed in this week on the $800m of international debt facilities for the $1bn Nigeria LNG project by mandated arrangers BNP Paribas, Crédit Lyonnais, Citigroup/SSSB, Mediocredito and WestLB. The deal closed well oversubscribed at all stages, but perhaps most notably at the retail level where the leads were hoping to attract around $100m, but instead received commitments for $175m.

Mandated arrangers ABN Amro, DnB Markets and Svenska Handelsbanken will sign banks into the Eu750m five year facility for Elkem on Monday. Elkem is one of the largest industrial groups in Norway. The deal has been oversubscribed but commitments have been scaled back and there will be no increase. The deal pays a margin of 97.5bp over Libor.

Next year promises to be a busy one for UK mortgage backed securities, and the action could start early in 2003. Northern Rock, which is usually quick to issue after the Christmas and summer holidays, has chosen Citigroup/SSSB and Merrill Lynch to lead manage a residential mortgage deal.

After a drawn-out bidding process the mandate to arrange the $200m 2-1/2 year facility for Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNIG) has been awarded to Citigroup/SSSB, Kredyt Bank/KBC, Pekao Bank and WestLB. The group was always the frontrunner for this hotly contested madate, but the choice has still surprised a number of bankers. The mandate was fiercely contested between the winning consortium and a group comprising SG, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, HVB Group and ING.

Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), which is top of the private placement issuer league table for 2002, told EuroWeek on Tuesday that 50% of its Eu52bn funding requirement for 2003 will come in the form of private placements. Despite stagnation in the German economy, the issuer's forecast funding requirement for 2003 is up by Eu2bn on this year. KfW had already reached its Eu50bn funding target for 2002 by November but Hans Reich, chairman of KfW's board of managing directors, said that this did not stop it taking advantage of opportunities in both the US and EuroMTN markets.

Amount: Eu1.08bn Rating: Moody's/Fitch

UK household credit provider Provident Financial raised £50.3m on Wednesday to part finance its acquisition of Yes Car Credit. The offering was lead managed by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Merrill Lynch, and comprised 8.6m shares at £5.85p apiece. Provident's share price fell just 0.51% on the day of the placement and the leads were able to price the offering at a small 1% discount to the previous close. The offering comprised 3.4% of the enlarged share capital.

Amount: Eu1.223bn and $28m Maturity: July 20, 2008

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $100m

RHB Bank tottered back into the market to re-launch its postponed $150m lower tier two bond issue this week, but it was forced to reduce the size and widen the pricing. With time fast running out before the end of the year, RHB added UBS Warburg to the ticket alongside ABN Amro, and cut the deal size from $200m.

Joint mandated arrangers ABN Amro (bookrunner), Commerzbank and Moscow Narodny Bank have fully underwritten a $180m three year term loan for Slavneft. The deal will be launched into general syndication in January. Vitol is offtaker for the facility. Proceeds will be used for working capital purposes.

Amount: $207.16m (private) Rating: Aa3/AA/AA-