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Carlos Conde, the former co-head of pan-European equity capital markets at JP Morgan, has re-emerged at SG. Conde will be sole head within the French firm. He started work on Tuesday and reports to Stephen Brisby and Marc Litzler, who co-head the global investment banking division with Kim Fennebresque.

Coredeal MTS will next week launch its bid to boost liquidity in the euro credit market when the electronic exchange and its market-makers begin trading corporate benchmarks, in a move they hope will heighten transparency and liquidity in the secondary market.

Costa Rica will price a blowout $250m 10 year deal via Deutsche Bank today (Friday), after attracting more than $1bn in orders. The issue is Costa Rica's first for the year and takes advantage of dedicated and cross-over investor demand for 'exotic' Latin American issuers whose dollar bonds receive a strong local bid. The Costa Rican government has limited the issue to $250m, all of which is expected to be sold to US and other international investors, leaving unsatiated local demand to ensure strong aftermarket support. The deal having been marketed at a spread of 310bp-325bp, investors said they expected pricing around 305bp.

Czech Republic The $118m 18 month acquisition facility for Dutch special purpose company Bivideon, which backs the purchase of a 51% stake in Ceske Radio Communikace, will not be put to the general market.

* General Motors Acceptance Corp (Australia) Guarantor: General Motors Acceptance Corp

Dollar swap spreads slipped a little over the course of this week. Early in the week, 10 year dollar swap spreads touched 70bp, but by yesterday (Thursday) had come in to just over 68bp. The five year was at 67bp, while two year swap spreads over the new 3% January 2004 Treasury were at 33bp. The latter price incorporates the 9bp roll into the new note. In a week that saw a relatively tight trading range in the dollar market, new issue business once again held centre stage. After a pell-mell start to the year in the primary markets, the last couple of weeks have been quiet. However, borrowers returned to the market in strength again this week. As has been the case this year, many chose to swap to floating rate, and the consequent hedging pressure drove spreads south.

The Euro-CP market continues to grow year on year, primarily as a result of greater use by big issuers such as the landesbanks. But one little-mentioned region has also been finding its way into the market with healthy enthusiasm. Scandinavian issuers have been steadily increasing their presence in the market since the second quarter of 2000, and now frequently issue quarterly volumes in excess of $15 billion-worth. This gives the region a bigger market share than both Italy and France, and if it continues to grow at the same rate Euro-CP issuance from Scandinavia will soon overtake that from Australasia too. But just like the market's dealers, the borrowers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are irritated by the lack of regulation in the Euro-CP market. They say if liquidity improved and trades could be turned around quicker, their use of the market would accelerate further. Ten Scandinavian issuers have signed Euro-CP programmes since January 2000, but their migration is most likely a result of crowded domestic markets rather than any explicit rewards from Euro-CP. Sally Vernon-Evans, head of short-term sales at Barclays Capital, says: "The Scandinavian issuers have saturated their domestic markets, and their funding strategies there have been so successful it makes sense for them to try an alternative market." Eksportfinans, the Norwegian export and credit agency, signed its $2.5 billion Euro-CP facility in 1992, and since the beginning of 2000 has issued the highest amount of paper of any Scandinavian issuer - $13.09 billion. It has borrowed roughly the same amount of money in the Norwegian domestic market. Oliver Siem, head of Euro-CP at Eksportfinans, says: "The pricing of these markets all depends on the swap. The Norwegian domestic market can be attractive, but after the swap it is usually very similar to ECP. And as some big issuers started paying higher prices for ECP, some other borrowers had to start paying up too. We've been fortunate as we have other facilities like our US CP programme and last year we used our domestic loan market quite a lot, as it was offering good levels." But not all the Scandinavian countries have domestic markets that they can turn to. Johny Munk, managing director, Euro-CP at Kommunekredit in Denmark, is happy to use Euro-CP as a source of funds, but thinks the lack of choice can sometimes be inhibiting. He says: "There is no real domestic CP market in Denmark. The Euro-CP market generally functions okay, but its disadvantage is that towards the year-end it always dries up. We try not to issue in December if we can help it, but sometimes we have to" This can mean being forced to pay up for funds in the Euro-CP market, unless you have access to other markets such as the US, which Kommunekredit does not. Scandinavian investors are also looking outside their borders, and some say this is where the real expansion is taking place. James Marriot, head of Euro-CP trading at UBS Warburg, says: "The biggest growth from Scandinavia is coming from the investors as they broaden their product portfolios, move further into fixed income and seek to invest some of their excess cash." Issuance in Nordic currencies has not increased recently, but traders say enquiry has been busier in the last six months and that feedback from investors is encouraging. Khe Bergenhill is head of fixed income at Folksam Insurance Group, one of the Nordic region's biggest fund managers. He says: "Euro-CP is not something we are focusing on right now, but as we get closer to EMU it is definitely something to consider." And if investors see the benefits in using Euro-CP, Siem, at Eksportfinans, thinks it could be the push that is needed for same-day settlement. He says: "As far as I can tell all the issuers and all the dealers are ready for same-day trading. It is just a question now of the investors making it final." Scandinavian domestic markets will always be hard to beat as long as investors are happy with their home issuers. But the future holds potential. Vernon-Evans, at Barclays Capital, says: "The ECP market does not compete with the domestic programmes of Scandinavian issuers, however it offers an alternative source of funds that they can be perfectly happy with."

Editora Abril, the Brazilian communications and publishing group, has signed a $175 million Euro-CP shelf and a $175 million global MTN facility. Eurovest Global Securities (Eurovest) is the arranger and sole dealer for both facilities. It is the first time either Editora Abril or Eurovest have been in the international debt capital markets, and the facilities mark the fourth Brazilian Euro-MTN signing and the third Brazilian Euro-CP signing since the start of 2001. The issuer's senior unsecured rating from Moody's is Ba3, making it one of the lowest-rated signings in the past year. It is one of the biggest communications groups in Latin America however, and its name recognition will help compensate for its low credit rating. But it still warns its investors in its documentation that: "Investing in the securities of issuers in emerging market countries, such as Brazil, involves a higher degree of risk than investing in the securities of US or European issuers."

Technip-Coflexip, the French oil and gas engineering company, took advantage of the seemingly bottomless pockets of equity-linked investors when it completed a Eu793.5m convertible issue this week. Issuers have been quick to take advantage of a market that saw such success in 2001, but according to Andrew Cooke, a managing director in charge of outright convertible funds at CBI-UBP International, the issues in the first month of 2002 have differed in one key respect. Cooke argues that issuers have woken up to the fact that they are able to protect their share price by pricing a deal with enough left on the table for outright investors.

Brazil n Banco Itau

* Dexia Crédit Local Rating: Aa2/AA/AA+

Euro trading made up almost 60% of the market share in volume. Twenty-three trades were done for $2.75 billion. Fortis Finance was responsible for a large portion of that volume. It closed a euro1 billion ($884.26 million) trade via Fortis Bank. The note has a spread of 35 basis points over mid-swaps and reaches out to January 25 2012. Other issuers were also closing in large volume. Vivendi Environnement did a 10-year euro750 million note that pays an annual coupon of 5.875%. It has a spread of 87 basis points over mid-swaps, equivalent to 113 basis points over the January 2012 Bund, or 106 basis points over the interpolated OAT curve. The trade was co-led by Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas and Natexis BP. And Banque PSA Finance closed a five-year euro600 million trade. The note pays a semi-annual coupon of 4.875% and is linked to the OBL 138. BNP Paribas and HSBC teamed up to co-lead manage the deal. Elsewhere, Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale led a euro5 million note for Achmea Hypotheekbank. The trade pays an annual coupon of 4.750% and matures on March 19 2007. The note is secured on a portfolio of Dutch residential mortgages. Royal Bank of Scotland also did a euro5 million note. The trade is linked to the DJ Euro Stoxx Banks index and has a minimum redemption of 136%. Commerzbank was the bookrunner.