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Who shot Tom Davis? One minute the genial and totally blameless vice chairman of Merrill Lynch was sitting in his corner office and looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. The next he suddenly disappeared from the radar screens before you could say, "whatever happened to Herbie Allison?". Unconfirmed sightings say that someone resembling "Long Tom" was seen riding into the sunset with his saddlebag full of swag. Merrill folk barely knew of his departure. The only announcement we saw was a terse note in the Journal on May 6 which suggested that he was leaving "to focus on other personal and professional goals". What's the real story? If you believe that hogwash about focusing on other goals, you probably lie awake hoping to see the tooth fairy, and leave a mince pie and a glass of sherry out for Santa Claus by the chimney on Christmas Eve.

The $725m acquisition facility for Group 4 Falck is heading for an oversubscription. UBS Warburg, which underwrote a $1.335bn bridge loan to finance the borrower's acquisition of security services company Wackenhut, has invited sub-underwriters to commit to the deal taking $50m.

Rating: A3 Amount: £150m

Egg, the UK-based retail bank, has put its name to a $5 billion global CP and certificate of deposit programme. Deutsche Bank has won the arrangership. The programme is rated P-1 by Moody's. The Euro-CP and CD dealers are the arranger, Barclays Capital, Citibank, Egg Banking and The Royal Bank of Scotland. The US CP dealers are Banc of America, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Banc Alex Brown and Salomon Smith Barney.

Rating: Aa2/AA/AA+ Amount: $300m

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $1bn obligations foncières

Amount: Sfr100m Maturity: May 30, 2008

Bond market participants are expecting Deutsche Telekom (DT) to bite the bullet and launch its Eu5bn-Eu8bn bond sale in euros and possibly dollars next week, despite the recent meltdown in the US telecoms sector.

Bond market participants are expecting Deutsche Telekom (DT) to bite the bullet and launch its Eu5bn-Eu8bn bond sale in euros and possibly dollars next week, despite the recent meltdown in the US telecoms sector.

The Euro-CP Association (ECPA) has merged with the International Primary Market Association (IPMA) to produce the ECP Committee (ECPC). John Ford at Deutsche Bank and chairman of the ECPA will now also be chairman of the ECPC. He says: "This merger formalizes the relationship we already had with IPMA, and gives us the extra lobbying clout that comes with an organization that is plugged in to many senior people at the regulatory authorities." The new committee answers to the board of directors at IPMA, and IPMA in return will offer secretariat support. Clifford Dammers, secretary general at IPMA, says: "In order to eliminate duplication of effort towards certain mutual goals we thought it would be more productive if we were part of the same organization. The restrictions in Spain, Italy and particularly France are a major issue for us. We hope to be more persuasive now in convincing the authorities in those countries to open up their investors to the international market." Ford, at Deutsche Bank, adds: "We will be able to take a more authoritative stance on certain issues that need to change. One such example is the proposed implementation of the new UCITS directive in the UK by the FSA. We can now respond to their consultation document in a more comprehensive manner."

The $250m three year facility for National Bank of Egypt is due to be closed today (Friday) and will be signed at the end of the month. The deal attracted a healthy oversubscription and an increase of up to $300m is expected. ABC, Citigroup/SSB, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Standard Chartered are arranging the deal. Three tickets are being offered: $15m for fees of 45bp; $10m for fees of 37.5bp; and $5m for 30bp. The loan carries a margin 75bp over Libor. The $50m one year facility for African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim) has been closed this week and will be signed today (Friday) in London. The deal has received an oversubscription and will be increased to $85m. WestLB, KBC, Natexis Banques Populaires, RZB, Standard Chartered and WGZ are arranging the deal, which pays a margin of 45bp over Libor. Three ticket sizes are being offered: co-arrangers $3.5m-$5m for fees of 30bp; lead arrangers $2m-$3.49m for 25bp; and managers $1m-$1.99m for 20bp. Afrexim last tapped the market in April 2000. The deal was arranged by KBC, RZB, Standard Chartered, WestLB and WGZ and paid a margin of 40bp over Libor.

Syndication of the Eu40m five year facility for Banka Celje is due to be closed this week. Arrangers for the deal are Bank Austria and BayernLB, Bawag, NordLB and LB Kiel.