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Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: £100m (fungible with £200m issue launched 02/10/02)

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Compiled by Stephanie Weedon, HSBC Bank plc, London Tel: +44 20 7336 3525

Finnish power company Fingrid Oyj has mandated Barclays Capital (bookrunner), JP Morgan and Nordea to arrange a Eu400m five year revolver. The deal should be launched next week. Proceeds will be used for general corporate and liquidity purposes as well as refinancing a DM765m multi-currency revolver from 1997.

Rating: Aaa Amount: $1bn designated bonds

For most of this year German borrowers have dominated the investment grade loan market, but in the last quarter the focus has shifted to corporate France. A number of mandates have already been awarded, deals have been launched in quick succession and more French borrowers are due to tap the market, say bankers.

The growth of demand for foreign currency assets in Japan has led to a surge of bond issuance in US dollars, euros and Australian dollars targeted at Japanese investors.Mark B Johnson interviews a number of these top tier names.

With only two months left until year end, the European credit market is poised between a sustained rally from the historic wides of recent months and a renewed bout of equity market-inspired volatility. After gradually tightening over the past couple of weeks, corporate spreads moved sideways this week. Many investors and analysts believe that spreads have priced in recent positive news as well as some of the technical factors that were pushing corporate bonds higher such as short-covering by hedge funds.

Guarantor: Fortis NV Rating: Aa3/A+/A+

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $1bn Freddie SUBS

EuroWeek hears that luxury goods company LVMH has requested proposals from its closest banks for a new syndicated loan. LVMH last borrowed when it secured a $380m revolving credit facility in September 2001.

The German banking sector is set to provide debt origination teams with plenty of opportunities over the coming years. In particular, legal issues affecting the Landesbanks and financial pressures on the country's commercial banks will lead to greater pricing and credit differentiation which will drastically alter the new issue landscape for financial instituitions. Philip Moore reports. Over the longer term, those investment banks that are cutting back on their commitment to the German market may come to regret the strategy, given the sheer importance of Germany within the context of the European capital market and the far-reaching changes that need to be engineered in so many industries - above all, in its banking sector. "As Europe's largest economy Germany clearly remains a key market for us and it is one that will provide a great number of opportunities," says Richard Zirps, director of debt capital markets at Lehman Brothers in London. "The corporate market remains attractive, but we see continuing opportunities arising from the German bank and insurance sectors where issues such as consolidation and capital management are important."