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Syndication of the $2bn five year facility for AP Moller Group is progressing well. The facility has already attracted close to $2bn in commitments and is set to close well oversubscribed. Mandated arrangers are Citigroup/SSSB, JP Morgan, Danske Bank and HSBC.

The dollar markets were thrown into a state of heightened expectancy this week by the sudden belief, shared by most dealers, that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by at least 25bp next week. Dollar swap spreads continued to decline as the new issue market maintained its more positive mood.

There is deep institutional and corporate liquidity in Japan as well as a vast domestic savings base equivalent to more than $12tr. Add to that the demands of global bond and currency indices on international fixed income investors and the result is that Japan's debt capital markets are set to keep growing and diversifying at a terrific rate.

The Hungarian Land Credit and Mortgage Bank (FHB) this week announced that Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) will arrange its forthcoming Eu1bn EuroMTN facility. The mandate is DrKW's second this year after Vasakronan's Eu1bn programme in June. "We competed with a couple of other houses for this mandate and are excited to have secured it," said Henry Nevstad, global head of MTNs at DrKW in London. "It is one of the first signings out of the region this year and therefore a very interesting case."

Amount: Eu100m Maturity: December 1, 2004

Amount: Eu50m Maturity: November 8, 2004

The European Union is on the verge of destroying the ideal of a pan-European debt market if a draft directive on issuance prospectuses is approved, a coalition of industry groups will say today (Friday). They will urge the economics and finance ministers of the European Union to make some radical amendments to the prospectus directive before it is sent back to the European parliament for approval.

The past year has been a surprisingly active period in Japan's equity capital markets. Several high profile IPOs have been completed, a number of follow-on offerings were concluded, the J-Reit sector is gaining a critical market capitalisation and the sale of cross-shareholdings continues apace. Mark B Johnson reports.

The bursting of the equity bubble at the end of March 2000 was cruel timing as German retail and institutional investors were beginning to see what spectacular returns the product was capable of. Now, promoters of the culture are desperately trying to reassure investors that equities have a future worth believing in. However, the possible reinstatement of the capital gains tax on the sale of cross-holdings would not help. Philip Moore reports. For a man who has one of the most challenging jobs in the German financial services industry, Franz-Josef Leven is remarkably good humoured. He is a director of the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Aktieninstitut (German Share Institute), meaning that he has the unenviable task of persuading German savers that, contrary to everything they have seen and heard since March 2000, investing in equities may not be such a catastrophic idea after all.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Sk1.3bn

Syndication of the Eu2.525bn of senior debt facilities backing the Madison Dearborn Partners-led leveraged buy-out of Jefferson Smurfit Group (JSG) has been closed oversubscribed by joint mandated lead arrangers Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch. The deal comprises the largest amount of senior debt syndicated for a European LBO.