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A large group of lenders which were invited to commit to the debt facilities backing the Permira-led buy-out of Travelodge and Little Chef attended a bank meeting and site visit in Oxford on Wednesday. In a one-stop-syndication institutions have been asked to take sub-underwriting commitments of £40m to be brought down to £25m for a gross fee of 130bp over Libor.

Rating: B1/B+ Tranche 1: $925m senior debt (indicated: $750m-$850m)

Russian investment bank United Financial Group has upgraded its presence in London and New York to enhance its service to its international clients. In London UFG (UK) Ltd has been admitted as a member of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and had its trading licence upgraded to Category A by the FSA, the UK financial services regulator. As a result, the company can now execute trades directly for investors, rather than having to act through a third party broker-dealer. Previously only rival Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital had been awarded LSE membership and Category A licence status.

The postponing of Infinity Property & Casualty's IPO this week continues the dismal run of the US markets, which has seen equity capital market bankers suffer their slowest start to the year for a decade. The US has yet to see an IPO price in 2003, an appalling statistic considering the market is entering its sixth week of the year.

Most of this week's action came in the corporate market, with the supra and sovereign sectors quiet because of the Chinese new year, and financial issuance placed mostly as short term FRNs. Credit markets were not open to all issuers - SES and Wendel found themselves forced to cancel deals. But more familiar or high quality corporate names were able to get deals done. The utility sector dominated with deals from Endesa, Gaz de France, Iberdrola and RWE.

Rating: A2/A/A Amount: Eu1.4bn

The Belgian low cost airline Virgin Express is planning a Eu35m capital increase to pay back loans. The deal will take the form of a placing and open offer of 35m new shares priced at Eu1, a 60% discount to Virgin Express's closing price before the announcement of the deal. The company's majority shareholder Virgin Sky Investments, which owns a 59% stake in the company through a trust, has agreed to take up all of the new shares, but existing shareholders will have the opportunity to participate in the offering.

Most of this week's action came in the corporate market, with the supra and sovereign sectors quiet because of the Chinese new year, and financial issuance placed mostly as short term FRNs. Credit markets were not open to all issuers - SES and Wendel found themselves forced to cancel deals. But more familiar or high quality corporate names were able to get deals done. The utility sector dominated with deals from Endesa, Gaz de France, Iberdrola and RWE.

Don't let it be said that we didn't keep you up to speed on the movements of Jerome Wood, once a very big cheese in the debt capital markets group of Morgan Stanley in New York. Our information suggested that Jerry, despite his advancing years, had been buttonholed by CSFB's supreme allied commander, John Mack, to co-head the firm's precocious, but hugely profitable, bond business.

Lehman Brothers, SG and WestLB hope to launch the £426.4m of debt backing the construction of the new Wembley Stadium into general syndication next week. The deal was scheduled to be launched this week. SCH and BBVA have already committed to the facility as sub-underwriters, while Bank of Ireland and Hamburgische Landesbank have committed take-and-hold tickets.