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The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is on course to price its maiden Eurobond today (Friday) after Citigroup set guidance of the 120bp over mid-swaps area yesterday (Thursday) for the $150m 10 year deal. The debut is said to be attracting strong demand from emerging market and cross-over funds because of the diversity and scarcity value it offers buyers looking to lock-in to the EU convergence story.

Brit Insurance Holdings launched the first public debt issue for a Lloyd's name yesterday (Thursday), a £150m lower tier two deal that was also a test of appetite for non-life insurers after this summer's hurricanes in the US. The trade is the first from the sector since Hurricane's Katrina and Wilma battered US coastal regions — indeed the issue was delayed from September as a result of the storms.

Rating: BBB (Fitch — expected)

Citigroup has been mandated to arrange a Eu700m facility backing the leveraged acquisition of a 65% stake in Bulgarian Telecommunications Co (BTC) by Icelandic investment fund Novator.

Indonesian coal miner Adaro has completed what is arguably Asia's most successful high yield transaction for the last eight months — a $300m five year bond that was increased to $400m after attracting $1.7bn of orders.

European private equity and venture capital-financed companies created a million jobs between 2000 and 2004, according to a study by the European Venture Capital Association (EVCA). During the same period, 420,000 jobs were created through buy-outs and 630,000 jobs by venture-backed companies.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

The sterling CDS and bond index (see EuroWeek 931) was launched this week, and the funded version of the index was sold as a £400m 10 year note. This will trade as closely as possible to the synthetic index but allows investors still getting used to the CDS market to participate in a funded form. The issue was lead managed by Royal Bank of Scotland, alongside co-leads ABN, Barclays, HSBC and UBS. The issuer is SDI Funding, a Dublin-based SPV, and the collateral is derived from the CDS positions and bank deposits.

It was another rollercoaster ride for the autos this week. At the close yesterday (Thursday), GMAC widened 10bp to close at 465bp mid after a newswire story quoted a United Auto Workers trade union official saying that a strike at Delphi was "highly likely". Earlier in the day GMAC had rallied after the auto firms announced November sales figures in New York. GM said sales had dropped 11% but raised its North American production forecast for the next quarter. Its price came back to 455bp after this encouraging news.