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Rating: A3 Amount: $300m tier one capital

Rating: A1/A+/AA- Amount: $100m (fungible with $300m issue launched 19/03/02)

Investors had to choose this week from a variety of collateralised debt obligation structures this week as seasoned CDO managers Axa Investment Managers, Pimco, Prudential M&G and Henderson Global Investors all raced to close deals before year end, running the gamut from cash deals to synthetic structures. The first to market was Axa Investment Managers, which returned on Tuesday to its Jazz programme with a Eu756m synthetic collateralised debt obligation via Deutsche Bank, the same bank that closed the asset manager's last Jazz deal. The transaction offers a leveraged exposure to largely investment grade corporate names and asset backed securities.

Portuguese lender Caixa Económica Montepio Geral this week launched its first securitisation of residential mortgages, Pelican Mortgages No 1 Plc. The Eu611m senior tranche, rated triple-A by Fitch and Moody's, came at 28bp over three month Euribor, the same margin as Banco Espirito Santo's subsidised mortgages deal last week. Pelican's 5.4 year average life is marginally shorter than the Lusitano deal.

Italian lease backed spreads widened to near unprecedented levels as Mercantile Leasing, a subsidiary of Fondiaria, completed a Eu300m securitisation, while tough market conditions caused one issuer to delay its deal altogether. The year has seen a record volume of issuance in the Italian lease backed sector, pushing spreads out as investor appetite has become saturated.

A $30 million piece of AES Corp. was said to have traded this week as the company struggles to complete a refinancing deal, with a few lenders refusing to sign on. The deal combines a new $1.6 billion loan and an exchange offer of up to $500 million of senior notes due 2002 and 2003 for new securities and cash. The company needs 100% lender approval to complete the deal, but current market buzz suggests that some lenders were holding out for higher pricing. The names of the banks and institutions could not be determined. Calls to AES officials were referred to the lead bank, Citibank. Officials at Citi did not return calls by press time.

Barclays Capital has hired two top level credit derivatives professionals in a bid to become a major player in the European CDO and credit-default swap markets, according to Eileen Murphy, global head of agency CDOs in New York. The firm hired Paul Varotsis, executive director in structured credit trading at Lehman Brothers in London and the European chairman of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's credit derivatives market practice committee, in the new position of European head of agency CDOs. It has also brought on Olivier Staub, managing director and flow credit derivatives trader at Bear Stearns in London, as a director in a similar position. Varotsis and Staub declined comment.

Banc of America Securities has let go Jason Nagy, v.p. and equity derivatives trader, and Christopher Loudon, v.p. in corporate equity derivatives sales, in New York. Nagy reported to Benedict Wilkinson, managing director, while Loudon reported to Christopher Innes, managing director, according to an official familiar with the move. Nagy and Loudon could not be reached.

London derivatives professionals last week were puzzling over the fate of Sean Hamidi, senior managing director at Bear Stearns, who company officials insist is still on the payroll, but is no longer showing up for work. To compound the mystery two Bear Stearns staffers said professionals previously reporting into Hamidi had started to report directly to Hamidi's manager Michel Peretie, head of fixed income and derivatives for Europe and Asia. Peretie and Hamidi could not be reached. John Knight, spokesman at Bear Stearns in London, did not return repeated calls.

Crédit Agricole Indosuez is moving Philippe Jeanne, head of U.S. dollar derivatives trading in New York, to London to become the global head of trading for emerging markets. Jeanne replaces Hervé Martin, who is taking a new assignment within the group, Martin said, declining further comment. Jeanne's move is part of the firm's plans to combine its offshore and onshore emerging markets trading practice, which includes foreign exchange spot, options, credit and interest rate derivatives, Jeanne said, declining to elaborate.

Chubb Financial Solutions has hired Gary Wang, executive v.p. and director at Capital Networks, a Beijing-based firm specializing in financing China's telecom infrastructure, as a senior v.p. to head the firm's U.S.-based research group, where he will develop derivatives products. Tobey Russ, president and ceo in New York, to whom Wang reports, explained the firm appointed Wang after a recent restructuring which saw Anton Theunissen, who formerly filled the role, become head of Chubb's Financial Products division. Wang, who started at Chubb at the beginning of the month, declined comment.

Deutsche Bank has moved around several of the major players in its equity derivatives group in order to separate the business lines. The changes stem from a reshuffle in Asia, in which Nick Fennell, managing director in Hong Kong, has transferred to Tokyo to be head of program and relative-value trading for Asia Pacific and Japan. In addition, Ricardo Honegger, managing director and European head of flow derivatives trading in London, is flying out to Hong Kong to become head of equity derivatives sales and trading for the region, according to Yassine Bouhara, global head of equity derivatives in London.