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Rating: Baa2/BBB-/BBB- Amount: $750m (increased from $500m) fungible with two deals totalling $2.5bn launched 07/08/01 and 27/11/01

Guarantor: North West Water Ltd Rating: A2/A-/A-

Rating: A2/A Tranche 1: $500m

The US high grade corporate bond market showed no signs of slowing down this week, absorbing yet another stream of new issues. Around $10bn of bonds are expected to have been priced by the end of the week, including $900m of five year and 12 year global bonds by Vodafone, $1.5bn of three and five year paper by Countrywide and a $1.4bn global by CSFB.

Rating: AAA Amount: Ck850m

The bond market this week was supposed to be winding down ahead of the Christmas break, but issuers and investors remain active in dollars, euros and sterling, absorbing an unusual number of benchmark transactions for the time of year. The success of France Télécom's euro and sterling bonds shows that investors have well and truly bought into the company's restructuring plans, allowing the euro tranche to be increased from Eu1.5bn to Eu2.5bn. The pricing of the 2009 bond at 290bp over mid-swaps - at the tight end of the 290bp-300bp price talk - attracted a book in excess of Eu5bn with, said the lead managers, very little switch interest.

SG (bookrunner), WestLB (bookrunner) and Lehman Brothers (bookrunner) confirm that they have received underwriting commitments for Wembley National Stadium's £426.4m project financing. Banks have been asked to commit Eu60m to be brought down to final take and holds of Eu40m for 140bp all-in.

Rating: AAA Amount: Eu125m (fungible with Eu500m issue launched 06/02/01)

Amount: Eu1bn Rating: Fitch/Standard & Poor's

The debt markets slipped into the torpid Christmas holiday mood this week, but there were still a few swap-driven deals that exerted downward pressure upon swap spreads in the major markets. To add to the tightening pressure felt by euro swap spreads, Standard and Poor's offered a warning on Germany's credit, which inflated bund yields.

Sole mandated arranger Deutsche Bank is set to close syndication of the $40m two year term loan for General Banking & Trust shortly. Hungarian financial institutions have swarmed into the loan market this year and as a result some bankers felt that liquidity was not there to get this deal away at such a late stage.

Mandated arranger BayernLB has signed banks into the $30m five year multi-currency club style bullet term loan for Reykjavik Energy. The facility was oversubscribed and increased to $40m.