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On the back of a Eu145m high yield bond scheduled for launch next Tuesday, Lehman will launch the £260m financing for the Royal Bank Private Equity-led buy-out of safety and transportation group Britax in May. Lehman and HBOS are jointly lead underwriting the facilities, together with ING as arranger.

The Eu700m three year facility for the Czech Export Bank (CEB) has been delayed and no arranger yet awarded a mandate, because the project for which part of the proceeds have been earmarked has been held up in the Czech parliament. At Eu700m, the facility would be the largest ever for the zero risk weighted state owned borrower and, 100% government backed, it has been generating a great deal of interest from the market.

Compiled by Holger Kron Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt

BNP Paribas this week successfully co-ordinated a Eu720m combined exchangeable and accelerated offering in Valeo, the French car parts manufacturer, as investors looked to take advantage of the rebound in the autos sector. The French bank, assisted by Crédit Agricole Indosuez Lazard and Merrill Lynch, concurrently ran the offering of a Eu375m exchangeable bond and a Eu342m accelerated bookbuild in the car parts manufacturer as Compagnie Générale d'Industrie de Participations (CGIP) exited completely from the company.

CESP, the São Paulo electricity generator, this week issued the year's first straight corporate risk deal out of Brazil when it priced a $150m three year Eurobond with a put and a call after the first year. The deal, led by bookrunner WestLB and joint lead Banco Finantia, was smaller than the $200m CESP had hoped to raise and was priced at the wider end of its 8.75%-9% coupon range.

Rating: Aa1/AA- Amount: Sfr600m

Pimco's management sit down at their Newport Beach, California headquarters in a fortnight's time for their annual review of the global economy. One of the big themes under discussion will be China and its global re-integration, Lee Thomas, Pimco's managing director, told EuroWeek. "There is a changing of the guard in Asia," said Thomas. "Japan is in decline, not just economically but also demographically. With China set to be the next great power in the region, we have to look at the implications for global inflation or deflation, for changes in relative prices of goods, and so on."

Corporate dollar spreads widened and the Dow dropped below 10,000 for the first time in two months yesterday (Thursday) after the markets were hit by a barrage of grim corporate news, escalating fears of a weaker than expected economic recovery and an explosion in New York. Trading ground to a halt for two hours on Wall Street on Thursday afternoon when an accidental explosion shook buildings on West 19th street and rattled nerves in a city still recovering from the September 11 attacks.

UK telecoms equipment manufacturer Marconi this week said it had cut its net debt to £2.9bn. That total is well within the company's target of between £2.7bn and £3.2bn. Marconi has raised £1.5bn since September 2001 through disposals.

Merrill Lynch is merging its European, Middle East and African secondary debt trading into a new platform called credit trading. It is to be headed by Dale Lattanzio, who was previously head of the structured credit group, which trades non-vanilla credit products.

The family owner of Italian luxury goods firm Tod's sold a Eu148m block of shares through an accelerated placement on Tuesday. Merrill Lynch lead managed the offering, which comprised 2.8m shares priced at Eu53, a discount of 8.3% to the close the previous day.

Merrill Lynch has named a new management team for its foreign exchange business, which includes four managing directors newly hired from other firms. Senior management in Merrill's debt markets group have identified four major global product areas that they want to focus on: rates, which includes swaps, mortgages and options; credit; principal investment; and foreign exchange.