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German utility E.On's Eu29.1bn bid for its Spanish counterpart Endesa this week is likely to be the biggest European acquisition since Sanofi-Synthélabo took over Aventis in 2004, and could produce another jumbo corporate bond financing. At least Eu10bn is set to be refinanced in the bond market this year. In January Spanish telecom company Telefónica raised Eu5.5bn in the bond market to help finance its £17.7bn takeover of UK mobile phone company O2.

Caixa Catalunya achieved competitive pricing in the cédulas market this week with its inaugural issue, a Eu1.75bn 10 year transaction.

The week's big story in the dollar market is that the swap rate curve is inverted from two years to 30 years. "You've got a lot of guys who have relied on the carry trade for the last four or five years, and now suddenly they don't know what to do," said a swap market veteran. He added that some accounts were looking to European and Asian rate markets for trade ideas.

Macquarie Airports Copenhagen signed its Dkr5.2bn acquisition loan yesterday (Thursday), via Barclays and Royal Bank of Canada. It declined to extend the syndication beyond a sub-underwriting phase after the facility closed more than twice oversubscribed. The facility is split into a seven year Dkr5.1bn term loan and a Dkr137.5m term loan that matures this summer. The seven year portion pays an initial margin of 125bp, increasing to 140bp in year four, 150bp in year five, 160bp in year six and 170bp in year seven.

Deutsche Bank's leveraged finance business has been hit by three departures. David Wood, 51, co-head of the 30-strong leveraged finance group, announced his unexpected departure last week. After a two year stint, Charlotte Seagrave, managing director in loans capital markets, has also decided to move on. Mark Nielsen, junior vice-president, also resigned.

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Market outstandings touched around $517bn this week and asset backed outstandings had crept up to around $159bn yesterday (Thursday), up by about $14bn over asset backed outstandings at the end of January this year.

ABN Amro, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank have been mandated to arrange a $2bn five year loan for Orascom Telecom. The facility has been underwritten by the bookrunners. It will refinance around $650m of outstanding Orascom debt, and a $1.2bn vendor note issued by Hutchison Whampoa when Orascom bought a 19.3% stake in Hutchison Telecom International in December.

The European Investment Bank sold its first 30 year dol lar bond this week, in a $1bn deal that achieved tight funding and could lead to a revival of 30 year issuance in dollars by top-rated borrowers.

The European Investment Bank sold its first 30 year dol lar bond this week, in a $1bn deal that achieved tight funding and could lead to a revival of 30 year issuance in dollars by top-rated borrowers.