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Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $2bn (increase to deal first launched 21/09/01, now totalling $7bn)

Joint mandated arrangers Commerzbank and Nordea will next week close syndication of the debut Eu125m facility for chemicals and plastics supplier Uponor next week, once all commitments have been collected. The deal is due to be signed on September 15.

Mandated lead arranger Royal Bank of Scotland and joint arranger BNP Paribas have signed five banks into the Eu75.9m debt facility backing the Barclays Private Equity-led buy-out of Actaris Allocation Services. Bank of Ireland, IKB, Via Banque, Cadif and Crédit de Bretagne have joined the deal.

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

Gazprom is pushing ahead with plans for a Rb5bn bond before the end of the year, which will be the largest corporate issue in the Russian domestic market if placed in a single tranche. Gazprom's directors discussed plans for both rouble and dollar issuance at the company's board meeting in Moscow on Tuesday.

Guarantor: General Motors Corp Rating: A2/BBB+

Rating: Aa3/A+ Amount: $1.5bn

Banks bidding for the mandate to arrange the refinancing of Bertelsman's Eu2.5bn bridge facility expect to hear back from the borrower by the end of August. EuroWeek hears that Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, JP Morgan and Commerzbank have failed to make it to the last round of bidding.

The news of Jack Grubman's resignation from Salomon Smith Barney wasn't unexpected - the real surprise was that it took so long. By holding on to Grubman for reasons which will probably never be made totally clear, SSB and its mighty parent Citigroup have become a laughing stock. It wasn't just observers such as ourselves who asked, "why is Jack still there?", but customers and hundreds of Citigroup managing directors. But SSB and Citigroup are not off the hook yet because we anticipate that there will be howls of indignation when SSB's customers and Citigroup shareholders read that Mr Grubman is receiving a "golden goodbye" equivalent to more than $30m. We remember back in 1988 when Drexel Burnham's Mike Milken earned $550m in a single year, but proportionately Grubman's pay-off is equally outrageous. Even when Drexel Burnham was about to go belly-up Milken was still a hero to his loyal band of junk bond disciples.

Shares in Thomson Multimedia fell 7.1% on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs completed a Eu219m risk trade in the French media conglomerate. The sale, which had been predicted by bankers following the TMM sale by Alcatel in July, was made by US digital satellite television provider DirecTV.

Between 27 and 30 banks and institutional investors were invited to attend a bank meeting and site visit hosted by Barclays and the management of Halfords yesterday (Thursday) in London. Feedback from banks invited to join the £95m of senior debt facilities backing CVC's buy-out of car parts and bike retailer Halfords was generally upbeat after the meeting. However, one bank did complain that too much of the senior debt facilities had been carved out for institutional investors.

Guarantor: Bank of Scotland Rating: Aa2/AA/AA