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HOPES OF A successful euro debut next week for the Province of Buenos Aires were boosted yesterday (Thursday) when Moody's Investors Service upgraded the issuer's foreign currency rating to Ba3 from B1. News of the upgrade came as lead manager Chase was poised to announce price talk for the Eu100m four year deal and preparing a launch date for Monday or Tuesday, despite continued nervousness in the markets.

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* Land Sachsen-Anhalt Rating: Aa3/AA-

WHILE DOLLAR syndicate desks twiddle their thumbs -- and many are resigned to staying that way until after the summer break -- European currency desks are working at full speed, especially in Deutschmarks where oversupply at the long end is now a serious concern. One of the few hopes on the dollar front rests with Fannie Mae which should announce its plans for the next benchmark note in the coming week. But leading underwriters dismissed rumours of an imminent 10 year dollar bond from a European sovereign; Spain and Norway were mentioned as possible candidates.

MICHAEL CLANCY is to join Dresdner Kleinwort Benson as global head of credit spread businesses, turning the likelihood of a radical shake-up in the bank's fixed income operations into a near certainty. Dresdner announced at the end of last week that TJ Lim was to join as co-head of global markets alongside Frankfurt-based Erich Pohl and Heinrich Linz, a move which, Euroweek understands, prompted Peter Luthy, global co-head of the credit spread business, to fly to Frankfurt to confront Leonard Fischer, the Dresdner board member responsible for investment banking.

Asset backed securities: * Colonnade 98-1

Azerbaijan The EBRD and IFC are set to syndicate $200m of 'B' loans for the Azerbaijan International Operating Consortium (AIOC) which is developing oil and gas reserves around the Caspian Sea. Both the EBRD and the IFC are also providing $200m through their 'A' loan structures.

* Allgemeine Hypothekenbank AG Rating: A2/A

BOOKRUNNER Deutsche Bank will next week launch the first 'pan Euro' bond -- a transaction designed to remove the barriers between domestic and Eurobond issues. The deal will be for triple-A rated Electricité de France and will be a 10 or 12 year issue of up to Eu1bn. CDC Marchés will be joint lead and the deal should emerge at a spread in the low to mid-teens over OATs.

Belgium The eight banks arranging the Bfr135bn ($4bn) multicurrency revolving credit for Fortis have gone out to the general market. Senior lead managers are offered 17.5bp for a Bfr3.7bn commitment, lead managers are offered 15bp for a Bfr2.775bn commitment and managers 12.5bp for Bfr1.85bn commitments. A commitment fee of 50% of the margin is also available.

Ghana Citibank has quietly arranged a $40m pre-export financing for Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod). Cocobod will use the facility, which has a maturity of three months and a margin of 40bp over Libor, to finance the harvesting of Ghana's cocoa crop. Cocobod is one of the best African borrowers, and its annual pre-export financing -- of which this $40m transaction is just an addition -- is considered by most trade financiers to be the jewel of African trade finance business.

China Beijing Enterprises Holdings, the sole overseas investment arm of the Municipality of Beijing, is in the market for the first time with a $150m loan coordinated by Chase Manhattan Asia, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Bank. The arrangers are selling the deal as a three year facility, hoping that the borrower will not exercise its option to take the deal to full maturity.