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Guarantor: Abbey National plc Rating: Aa2/AA

ABB this week overcame challenging market conditions and investor concerns about its restructuring plans and asbestos litigation to launch a $750m equivalent bond in euros and sterling, but reduced the size from the planned $1bn equivalent and paid an extra 20bp in spread. The deal, led by Barclays, Citigroup/SSSB and Credit Suisse First Boston, was reduced from planned Eu1bn and £300m tranches to Eu500m and £200m deals respectively - the euro maturing in January 2008 and the sterling in May 2009. Both tranches paid 470bp over mid-swaps and gave investors hefty coupons, 9.5% in euros and 10% in sterling.

ABB this week overcame challenging market conditions and investor concerns about its restructuring plans and asbestos litigation to launch a $750m equivalent bond in euros and sterling, but reduced the size from the planned $1bn equivalent and paid an extra 20bp in spread. The deal, led by Barclays, Citigroup/SSSB and Credit Suisse First Boston, was reduced from planned Eu1bn and £300m tranches to Eu500m and £200m deals respectively - the euro maturing in January 2008 and the sterling in May 2009. Both tranches paid 470bp over mid-swaps and gave investors hefty coupons, 9.5% in euros and 10% in sterling.

ABN Amro has won the mandate to arrange the debt facilities backing the buy-out of six retail chains from Dutch retailer Koninklijke Vendex by CVC. The six businesses being sold are the Hans Anders opticians group, Siebel jewellers, Kijkshop, Perry Sport, Prénatal and Scapino.

Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: $850m

Alfa Laval, the Swedish specialist engineering firm, finally priced its troubled Skr5.1bn (Eu558m) IPO today (Friday), having been forced to revise the price range and cut the number of shares offered in the deal. According to a banker close to the transaction, investors reacted well to the revised offering, which saw the price range lowered from Skr108-Skr140 to Skr90-Skr95 and the number of shares on offer reduced from 65m to 57m. The deal was finally priced at Skr91 per share.

Rating: A1/A+/AA- Amount: £200m

Senior syndication of the $350m credit for Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol) has been closed. General syndication was launched this week. EuroWeek understands that the deal is being fully underwritten and mandated arranger Standard Chartered will be joined at senior syndication level by a number of other relationship banks.

Construction and engineering company Ashtead has renegotiated the financial covenants on its $550m five year acquisition facility. Bank of America, Citigroup/SSSB and Lloyds TSB arranged the loan in 2000. Proceeds supported the borrower's £186m takeover of BET USA, an equipment rental business formerly owned by Rentokil Initial.

UBS Warburg has solely underwritten a A$2.1bn, one year bridging loan for Amcor, a global packaging company. The facility will be repaid via new equity, bond issuance and the sale of Amcor's 45% interest in Kimberly-Clark Australia.

Some household Euromarket names are seeking an easier life. On Monday afternoon we heard that our friend TJ Lim, who doesn't look a day over 18, but has had a hugely successful career in the Euromarkets for more than 20 years, is departing from Merrill Lynch. We were still recovering from the shock over a pint of Vodka Martini, when the phones rang again - "Markus Granziol has upped sticks at UBS Warburg". We drained the pint of Vodka Martini before you could say, "Who's next?". We are sorry to see TJ Lim choosing to step down at Merrill and before you ask, no there wasn't a shoot-out with debt capital markets supremo Dow Kim in New York. Of course TJ was disappointed to lose the top job to Dow Kim, but remember that running fixed income for Merrill in Europe is a huge responsibility, especially when debt is driving many of Merrill's other businesses.