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Rating: A3/BBB+/BBB+ Amount: $300m global bond (fungible with $500m issue launched 08/11/01)

Rating: Baa3/BBB/BBB Amount: $650m

Tunisia has ridden the wave of positive sentiment for investment grade sovereigns and EMEA diversification plays to deliver a $650m 10 year bond - $150m larger than expected and 5bp tighter than the $1bn 10 year issue for South Africa that preceded it. The bond followed South Africa's lead in tightening 5bp spread in the immediate aftermarket, though on relatively few trades, supported by a small rally in Treasuries. However, the bond underperformed South Africa by some 10bp later in the week.

ABN Amro and SG have been appointed to conduct a short review of the $2.7bn financing package for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline for lead sponsor BP. The financing structure for the pipeline is not finalised. However, the EBRD and IFC are each thought to have provisionally committed up to $300m.

UK rights issues are back. The structure almost disappeared during the bull run of the 1990s, but corporates are now returning to their favourite repair tool to strengthen battered balance sheets. As interest rates start to rise, shareholders will have to get used to what promises to be a clutch of debt-related rights offerings. By Steve Metcalfe. I n case nobody had noticed, equity capital markets are entering a new phase. The downturn of the past two years is over, and an uptick in corporate earnings should spell better times ahead for investors.

Rating: B1/B-/B Amount: Eu600m

Unibanco, Brazil's third largest privately owned commercial bank, this week breathed new life into the tier two subordinated debt market for Latin American banks. Unibanco's issue is a novel $200m 10 year non-call five synthetic political risk insurance (PRI) transaction. The deal, lead managed by Deutsche Bank, is the first to use the 10 non-call five structure, the biggest subordinated debt offering out of Brazil and the first to attract strong demand at the outset.

Guarantor: Commonwealth of Australia Rating: AAA

Rating: A1/A+ Amount: Eu50m

Despite continental Europe-wide holidays and Golden Week in Japan, underwriters are cramming a surprising amount of business into next week. Roadshows are in abundance and the new issue calendar looks busy, especially in euros. This week the credit market digested the Eu6.5bn equivalent issue RWE launched last Friday (April 19), which included the largest ever sterling offering, of £1.55bn. It was priced just before E.On named ABN Amro, Barclays, DrKW and Goldman Sachs as leads for its intermediate and long dated euro and sterling bonds worth between Eu5 and Eu7bn.

Rating: AAA Amount: Eu100m Öffentlicher Pfandbrief series 266

European high yield investors have been left almost windswept by three roadshows in the last week, from high yield issuers SC Johnson Wax, Sanitec and Britax. But they have also been drawn further into the cross-over credit market. WorldCom, whose senior unsecured long-term debt was downgraded by Moody's on Tuesday from A3 to Baa2, has seen considerable trading turnover. Moody's said the downgrade reflected WorldCom's revised earnings forecast for 2002, which was well below expectations. Around $30bn of debt securities is affected, including around Eu1.25bn in euro issuance. "It is trading more like a single-B, giving yields of 15% to 18% depending on whether you're buying the 2003s or 2008s," said one high yield salesman.