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Senior bankers have confirmed that the pulled equity placement for Australian Magnesium Corp (AMC) might be resuscitated. Bankers said that if talks with potential cornerstone investors were concluded successfully, a scaled down issue of around A$500m might emerge within a couple of weeks.

The Federal Reserve Board duly cut short term rates by another 25bp on Tuesday. The statement accompanying the announcement once again highlighted the dangers of prolonged economic weakness, thus paving the way for at least one more rate cut before the year end. Two year Treasuries again tested the historic low in the wake of the latest ease, while 10 year swap rates also came in to below 5.75%. Swap spreads were less affected, though they too drifted tighter later in the week. At the close yesterday (Thursday), the five year mid-market was 76.5bp and the 10 year midmarket was 84.5bp.

BNP Paribas says it has reached "critical mass" in its European equity research business with the hire of five analysts this week. The most senior hire is Philippe Schmitt, who becomes sector head for IT hardware, part of the technology team led by Patrick Shields. Philippe joins the London office from Lehman Brothers, where he was head of European telecoms equipment research.

India Arrangers ANZ Investment Bank, Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney and Standard Chartered will sign in the banks on the syndication of the $250m loan facility for Reliance Petroleum today (Friday) in Kochin.

ING Barings has hired a senior credit salesperson as part of its continuing drive to rebuild and restructure its high yield operations in London. William Franklin has joined as a director of credit sales, reporting to the head of credit sales, Paul Brown. Franklin will sell European high yield and emerging market credit to UK-based accounts.

Brazil Banco Santander Brasil is in the market with a $100m two year trade related loan via mandated arranger Bank of America.

Although the UK Premiership football season only started last weekend, three clubs have already scored in the asset backed securitisation market, with Leeds United planning a £50m deal backed by ticket receivables.

Although the UK Premiership football season only started last weekend, three clubs have already scored in the asset backed securitisation market, with Leeds United planning a £50m deal backed by ticket receivables.

Royal Bank of Scotland hosted a lunch for its MTN dealers yesterday at its offices at Waterhouse Square, London - a beautiful building, with gothic arches and turrets. Sanjay Sofat, Nigel Owen, Richard Harding and Ron Huggett were the hosts. The building was a far cry from the usual multi-storey glass complexes banks are going for these days. Shame that RBS is moving to a high-rise block in the City this weekend. Everyone who was anyone was there, including Kirsty McFarlane from RBS's dealer side, Commerzbank's Gayle Turner, UBS Warburg's Graham Cox, Deutsche Bank's Mike Bransford and HSBC's Evie Christodoulidou. The buffet lunch and regular top-ups of wine and beer, made the occasion go wonderfully. And while half the dealer community were socializing in Waterhouse Square, others were away at the annual crayfish party. But this week's spare thought goes to UBS Warburg's head trader, Gavin Eddy, who has been burgled again.

Lehman Brothers has revealed its plans for the Japanese cash equity sales team it has set up in London, composed mainly of former ING Barings bankers. The head of the six strong group is Ashley Kent, who announced in April his departure from ING Barings where he was head of Japanese cash equity sales in Europe. Kent will be joined by David Harris, who was most recently based in New York as head of emerging market sales trading for Crédit Lyonnais.

Meliorbanca has become the fifth Italian private bank to sign a Euro-MTN programme in the last 10 weeks. And the euro1.5 billion ($1.37 billion) Euro-MTN signing gives UniCredit Banca Mobiliare (UBM) its first arrangership of the year. Luca Peviani, Meliorbanca's CFO, says the wide spreads at present mean they will wait until next year to do their first trade. He says: "We have no plans for an inaugural trade because we want to wait to see if the market improves." Peviani is unfazed by the number of Italian banks that have recently joined the market. He says: "The competition is not a worry. We are a small investment bank, very different to the other banks in this sector, and we can be more effective and flexible as a result. We don't need to post aggressive levels all the time." Fitch rates the issuer BBB+ and trading off the programme will be concentrated on the euro sector. The bank's ability to do structures is something that Peviani thinks will entice investors. He says: "We are very strong in structured products, and are able to design issues tailored to investors' needs." The dealers are the arranger, Banca Akros, Banca d'Intermediazione Mobiliare, Banca di Roma, Banca Nazionale del Lavaro, Lehman Brothers, Natexis Banques Populaires, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg.