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Macquarie Funds Management has continued its Asian expansion with the appointment of Indaka Nanayakkara and Veronica Ho to be the head of enhanced equities, Asia and quantitative research analyst, Hong Kong, respectively. The two appointees have joined Derek Mak, the assistant portfolio manager for Hong Kong enhanced equities. Mak manages the Hong Kong Enhanced Equities Fund, which currently has just over $100m in assets under management.

Network Rail, the UK rail operator, has set up a £4bn global CP programme. Merrill Lynch has scooped the arrangership. Bankers say it has been joined on the panel by Barclays Capital, Citigroup/SSSB, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, HSBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS Warburg and WestLB. The dealer panel is drawn from banks that were involved in a £9bn two tranche loan for Network Rail last June. The multi-currency facility has yet to be assigned a rating by all three main agencies, but it should receive either an A1+/P1 rating or an A1/P1 rating.

Commentary

National Express Group is close to mandating banks for a new £600m facility. Likely arrangers would be BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, WestLB, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. National Express was last in the market with an £800m five year dual tranche facility in 2000 which paid a chunky 75bp over Libor.

National Grid is said to be looking for a $3bn refinancing, although some bankers have suggested that the firm will use bilaterals instead. The new facility could partly refinance a $1.7bn 364 day revolver signed in November 2001 that was not refinanced in 2002.

Telecommunications company KPN held discussions with its closest banks this week and has decided it will opt for a club-style facility for the refinancing of its Eu1.75bn revolver signed in May 2002. The new transaction will probably be held between the mandated lead arrangers of the 2002 deal - ABN Amro, Bank of America, Citigroup/SSSB, Deutsche Bank, HVB, JP Morgan, ING and Rabobank.

EuroWeek understands that bankers close to Network Rail are in discussions with the borrower about general corporate purpose facilities. These would not necessarily be drawn, but will provide backstop support. Network Rail is planning a £9bn securitisation which will be supported by the Strategic Rail Authority through a direct grant and a £21bn standby facility.

Italy Volare Airlines, the low cost airline, is aiming for a flotation later this year via Interbanca. The company was founded in 1997 and merged with AirEurope in August 2000. It used to be partly owned by Swissair Group but is now wholly owned by private Italian investors.

Rating: Aa3/AA-/AA- Amount: Eu500m

Syndication of the $460m term loan for Bonny Gas Transport Ltd is going well. A well attended bank meeting was held last Friday in London. Commitments are due by March 4. Six banks joined the deal during senior syndication for take-and-hold tickets and as a result there was an oversubscription before the deal was launched into general syndication.

Rating: AAA Amount: Sfr200m lettres de gage publiques

Arrangers Citigroup/SSB, Crédit Lyonnais, HSBC, ICBC, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (HK) and Mizuho Corporate Asia have launched the $500m five year term loan for Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to sub-underwriters. Banks will receive a margin of 233bp over Libor. Sub-underwriting lead arrangers will earn an underwriting fee of 21bp and a management fee of 90bp for a minimum commitment of $50m with a final take of $25m or above.