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The Eu500m facility for AKK, the Republic of Hungary’s debt agency, has been signed. Mandated lead arrangers are HSBC and SMBC. Arrangers are BayernLB, BNP Paribas, Caja Madrid, Crédit Agricole Indosuez, Deutsche Bank, Kereskedelmi es Hitel Bank, Sanpaolo IMI, SG and WestLB.

HVB conduit Arabella Funding this week issued its first EuroCP note with a term of one day and became the first borrower to issue a yen denominated trade in that tenor.

Rating: Aa1/AAA (Moody’s/Fitch)

After a lousy 2002 and a slow start to 2003, suddenly the year changed and became an annus moolah-is for most capital market bankers, writes Ian Kerr .

Once more the debauched collective at the Euro Hell-Fire Club has broken off from its exertions in the basement to reward the leading lights of the Euromarket and reprimand its deviants. The archaic customs of Sir Francis Dashwood’s original Hell-Fire Club are a world away from the modesty and asceticism of today’s banking community, so we reject his wanton motto of ‘Fay ce que voudres’ in favour of the rather more disciplinarian ‘Don’t spare the rod’. Callow Euromarket members wanting to win our approval in future would do well to take note.

Because fixed income has once more been the breadwinner for the investment banks, I am looking at the form for the 2004 runners and riders. Having picked the first four past the winning post in 2002, I expected to be hauled up before the Jockey Club, but I can only assume that the committee members backed my tips.

Rating: BBB+

UK supermarket chain Tesco re-entered the equity capital markets on Tuesday after a 10 year absence to issue 315m new shares.

A $50m one year transferable loan has been launched into general syndication for Canara Bank. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Natexis Banques Populaires (Singapore) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp are arranging the facility.

The pattern of Christmas cards, which we received in abundance, clearly indicates that fewer people send personalised cards with their own addresses and that corporations and investment banks are also economizing. Perhaps it’s the cost of printing or the exorbitant price of first-class stamps.

Citigroup was nursing a loss of at least Eu37.5m this week after unlucky timing and — according to market observers — poor judgement marred its Eu1.76bn bought deal in Infineon Technologies stock for Siemens.

Colombia made it to the international markets this week — but only just. The sovereign issued a $500m 20 year transaction just before a wave of profit taking sent prices reeling in the emerging bond sector.