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On April 5, Aeroflot signed a $40m one year facility through joint arrangers Moscow Narodny Bank and WestLB. The loan is secured against payments due from the International Air Transport Associate (IATA). Also joining the deal are Donau Bank, and CB Mosnarbank as account holder. The loan is for general corporate purposes. Gazprom's $300m six year facility was closed this week by mandated arranger HVB Group.

There is a sense of doom and gloom at embattled investment banks in New York and London where volumes of debt, equities and M&A business in the US and European capital markets are on the wane. In contrast, the atmosphere at investment banks in Moscow is optimistic, with employment prospects every bit as bright as the performances of the equity and fixed income markets in Russia last year. Meanwhile, growing appetite for Russian assets from both Russian and international companies means that incomes from M&A advisory business are likely to climb further.

The mandate for Arab Petroleum Investment Corp's (Apicorp) $250m five year facility has been awarded. However, the arranger group has not been revealed. A banker close to the deal told EuroWeek that an announcement about the group will be made in the next two weeks.

Svenska Cellulosa (SCA), the Swedish hygiene products, packaging and forest products company, has signed a euro1.5 billion ($1.32 billion) Euro-MTN programme, giving Salomon Smith Barney its second arrangership of the year. SCA made its last venture into the international capital markets in 1993 with a $150 million bond using a 144a option. But since then the company has been dependent on banks for its financing. It has three syndicated loans outstanding, one of which is a Dm2.5 billion ($1.13 billion) loan that will fully amortize in December next year. Johan Rydin, vice president, corporate finance at SCA, says: "We have been heavily reliant on the bank loan markets recently, and the new facility will help us partly refinance our amortizing loan. It will also diversify our investor base." There are no plans yet for an inaugural, and Rydin could not say when or how big the debut trade would be. He gave some clues to the currency and maturity however: "The currency we choose will be primarily price-driven, but is likely to be euro. Maturity will be in the medium term, between five and 10 years." The company is rated A- by Standard & Poor's and A3 by Moody's. Rydin thinks they have a good chance of attracting investors when they go on their roadshow, to be done once an inaugural deal has been decided. He says: "Since we were rated in 1993 it has only been changed once, when S&P upgraded us from BBB+ to A-. When you can show good stability like this the market can be very liquid." SCA Coordination Centre and AB SCA Finans are also named as issuers. The dealers are the arranger, ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, CSFB, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner KW, Handelsbanken Trading, Nordea Markets and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Amount: £357m Legal maturity: May 15, 2009

The syndication of Banka Celje's Eu40m five year facility has been well received in the market. Arrangers Bank Austria and BayernLB are waiting for a number of other banks to join them at arranger level. Commitments are due back next week when the deal will be launched into general syndication. Arrangers are understood to be participating for tickets of $5m.

Singapore's second largest cellular phone firm, MobileOne, has awarded the long awaited mandate for its S$250m funding requirement to ABN Amro. ABN beat off competition from DBS and a joint effort from HSBC and OCBC.

Rating: AA+ Amount: Eu30m

Guarantor: Sol Melia SA Rating: BBB+ (Fitch)

BMW South Africa is looking for funding of up to R2bn (around $200m) to finance its expansion in South Africa. Bankers have proposed various structures and pricing to the corporate, which is looking for a long term commitment.

Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the Republic of Lebanon to B- from B, with a negative outlook. The agency noted its concerns over the country's mounting public debt burden and diminishing prospects that the government will be able to take strong fiscal adjustment measures and secure financial support from official donors in the near term.