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Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Eu4bn (increased 16/01/03 from Eu3bn)

The mandate to arrange a new $200m three year amortising facility for Sidanco has been awarded to Citigroup/SSSB. The deal will be launched into senior syndication next week.

There was no halting the popularity of corporate Russia in the syndicated loan market last year and the fight for mandated lead arranging roles on Russian corporate loans is set to continue this year. At the end of 2002 HVB Group led the mandated arranger league table of syndicated loans for Russian corporates. The German bank arranged five of the 33 deals completed in 2003 which amounted to $679m.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has underwritten a £98,282,777 project financing for Services Support (Manchester). Proceeds will fund the acquisition of 17 buildings and 16 sites in Greater Manchester to be used by the Greater Manchester Police Authority.

The South African government has finally given the go-ahead for telecoms provider Telkom to begin premarketing its $600m IPO. South Africa has chosen to begin its privatisation process with the partial float of the telecoms incumbent in the hope that it will send out a positive message about the country's restructuring. "It is politically important that the deal goes well," said one well placed observer in London.

Singapore Post is on the verge of awarding the mandate for its inaugural syndicated loan. The deal will be for around S$250m with a tenor of three years. Two rival bidding groups have formed for the mandate to arrange the S$250m credit for CapitaLand Commercial, one of the few fresh loans in the Singaporean loan market.

Six Continents is on the verge of mandating five to six banks for its two demerger facilities. Three US and three UK banks are the most likely contenders, implying Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Bank of America, Citigroup/SSSB and JP Morgan will form the leading group.

Following the death of Xavier Debonneuil on December 26, 2002, Société Générale was this week forced to make a number of changes to its general management committee. Debonneuil is to be replaced as head of corporate and investment banking by Jean-Pierre Mustier, formerly head of debt finance. Mustier joined the bank as an equity options trader in 1987, having graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines. In 1989 he was appointed head of options in the US, before taking the same role in Japan in 1991.

The eagerly awaited mandate to arrange the $1bn five year facility for Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis (Sonangol) will be awarded today (Friday). Appetite for the deal should be good as investor confidence and interest in commodity finance deals has steadily improved. This is also the first time the Angolan borrower has opted for an open bidding process.

ABSA Bank Ltd has asked the 16 banks that committed to its $360m one year term loan signed in March 2002, to roll over their exposure for another year. Bar one or two minor changes the loan will have the same structure and similar pricing to the 2002 facility.

Bankers expect Spain's leading telecommunications company Telefónica de España SA to start discussions with its banks about refinancing a Eu2bn three year tranche of a Eu8bn facility signed in 2000. ABN Amro, BBVA, the then BSCH, JP Morgan, Citigroup/SSSB and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein lead arranged the loan. Proceeds of that deal were used to finance the borrower's acquisition of a German UMTS and for general corporate purposes.

Rating: Aa3/AA- (Moody's/Fitch) Tranche 1: Eu500m