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* The class 'A1' notes issued as part of the A$600m term MBS transaction for RAMS Home Loans were priced on Friday last week at one month BBSW plus 32bp. The A$120m of triple-A notes are structured as soft bullets with a three year maturity. "There was strong demand for the paper and this is a nice way to end the year," said a senior SSB banker. "RAMS has issued A$1.2bn into the local market this year and for them to round off a good year was positive for the market. We were very encouraged by the pricing compared with comparable paper in the market."

The market tone improved slightly this week as US presidential election doubts were resolved and George W Bush prepared to take residence at the White House. The news had a positive effect on corporate bond spreads, as the market sees Bush's proposed tax cuts as a possible boost to the slowing US economy.

INTRODUCTION: Germany has long been the Olympic champion of the Euro-MTN market. It has issued almost twice as much private Euro-MTN paper as its nearest rival this year. And it is not surprising that some of the most sophisticated Euro-MTN issuers are German - no European country has produced more triple-A borrowers. But despite its pre-eminence, Germany finds itself threatened from all sides. It has failed to take a lead in the credit revolution. As the Euro-MTN arena stops relying on structures and reinvents itself as a credit market, Germany lags behind many other countries. In a table of single-A and below issuers it ranks only fifth. And of the 83 corporates that have joined the market since January 1999, only one is German. Germany goes for gold has gathered four of the country's rare corporate issuers in a roundtable and gets them to share their views of the market. Even the stalwarts of the Euro-MTN market, the German landesbanks, are suffering. They are under severe pressure as the European Commission tries to change their guarantee system. The feature over the page examines how these issuers are coping with more expensive funding and a rating agency on the attack. But there is one issuer that is an example to all its peers. Bayerische Landesbank is at the forefront of the structured market and this year has managed to issue more non-syndicated debt than the European Investment Bank and Fannie Mae put together. The feature on page 19 investigates the secret of this institution's success. Germany goes for gold highlights the most pressing issues facing both the buy side and the sell side of the Euro-MTN market, and asks whether Germany will take the top spot on the MTN podium this year. *** For more information regarding this supplement, or if you wish to advertise in MTNWeek's next supplement, please contact Francoise Lavergne on +44 20 7440 6436 ***

Three- and two-year euro is seeing demand and two gics are happy to satisfy it. Nationwide Financial, with a euro50 million ($48.94 million) FRN, returned to the euro sector for the first time since September, when it did a similar deal that paid 3m Euribor +0.2%. Issue date is December 27 2000, maturity date is December 27 2003. And Principal Financial Funding did an identical FRN, except the issue date is January 2 2001 and it matures January 2 2003 - one year earlier that the Nationwide trade.

Havas Advertising capitalised on a narrow window of opportunity this week to issue a Eu709m convertible bond to help finance its acquisition of US company Snyder. The deal had been ready for two weeks when the company saw its chance to get the issue out before Christmas.

The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) has a problem. Although Ireland is one of the most important centres for software production in Europe, Irish technology companies often choose to list on foreign exchanges. The ISE has finally come up with a means of trying to persuade them to stay, but bankers are sceptical about its chances of success. In September, the ISE launched Iteq, an exchange for high growth technology companies. The market was established with six listed companies, and had its first IPO on October 26, when Datalex listed on both Iteq and the main exchange.

India Arrangers ABN Amro and Arab Petroleum Investment Corp have closed the $150m three year fundraising for Indian Oil Corp.

Investor, the Swedish investment company, has doubled the ceiling off its $2 billion debt issuance programme to $4 billion. The programme was signed in December 1997 via JP Morgan and has $1.34 billion outstanding off 12 issues. Neither Goldman Sachs nor Salomon Smith Barney have lead managed any trades for the issuer, despite being in its dealer panel.

Alkane Energy, the UK's leading commercial producer of coal mine methane (CMM) from abandoned coal mines, has raised £30m to finance its expansion into the fast growing industry of green energy. SG managed the deal. The company sold 33.33m new shares at 90p, valuing the company at £80.4m. The stock began trading yesterday (Thursday), closing above the issue price at Eu92. "The flotation has gone at a small premium, which is good given the market conditions," said a banker close to the deal.

Fears of a recession in Ireland made 1999 a terrible year for the country’s equity market. But, in 2000, Irish stocks have bounced back to show the strongest growth in Europe. Michael Hoare finds out why.

Specialty pharmaceuticals company Elan Corporation has had a great year. The stock price rose from under $30 at the beginning of 2000, to $54 on December 1. It now makes up more than 20% of the Irish index Iseq. Elan, which was founded in Ireland and has its headquarters there, has made a lot of people a lot of money. But those people are not in Ireland. The vast majority of trading in the company, which is listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, the LSE and the NYSE, happens in the US. Even the trading in Ireland is mostly done in American Depository Receipts, to avoid stamp duty. As a result, a lot of Irish investors did not buy into Elan early enough, because it was not a stock they followed closely.

INTRODUCTION: Few areas of the Euro-MTN market are as exciting and challenging as Italy. No other country's regions have adopted the Euro-MTN platform so wholeheartedly. Since the beginning of the year three more local authorities have joined the market. This means that there are now 10 Italian state borrowers with Euro-MTN facilities, leaving few regions left in Italy that don't have access to this flexible market. But despite this large vote of confidence in the Euro-MTN product from Italy, there is still a long way to go before the market matures. Few regions are responding to market opportunities on a regular basis because of the amount of bureaucracy that they have to go through before issuing. Most are using their facilities to launch one or two public Eurobonds each year and are not accessing the private market at all. This surge in signings from regional authorities and the fierce challenges they face are examined in our feature over the page. The second feature focuses on the changing Italian investor base. When the structured market took off a couple of years ago Italian investors were driving the demand. Italian funds and retail investors were some of the first to buy the Eonia-linked and CMS-linked deals that dominated the structured market of last year. But as the market becomes more credit focused, structures are falling in popularity. The feature on page 5 discusses how the emergence of pension funds and the development of internet trading is affecting the future of the Italian investor base. Italy puts MTNs on the map takes a look at the big issues for both the buy and sell sides of the market. And discovers a region that still has much to offer. *** For more information regarding this supplement, or if you would like to advertise in MTNWeek's next supplement, please contact Francoise Lavergne on +44 20 7440 6436 ***