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The Bht4bn six year refinancing for Total Access Communications has closed with signing set for October 29 in Bangkok. The arrangers are ABN Amro and its Thai subsidiary Bank Asia pledging Bht1.525bn, and Development Bank of Singapore, Thai Danu Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp committing Bht887.5m each.

Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB) surprised the sterling market this week with a £429.7m ($664.7m) three year bond issue, its first non-dollar offering in four years. The deal, lead managed by Lehman Brothers, was issued at par to yield 4.355% and was launched on the back of reverse enquiry.

After a weekend of working on valuations for Vivendi Universal's (VU) publishing assets the private equity consortia left in the auction for the businesses were dealt a blow when VU announced on Wednesday that it had chosen trade buyer Lagardère as its preferred bidder. EuroWeek understands that the PAI-led consortium, which included KKR, Apax Partners, Blackstone and Thomas Lee, backed by underwritten bank debt from CIBC, Crédit Agricole Indosuez, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers was second in the running.

Sex in the City? Surely not, but even we puritanical Scottish Presbyterians have been to see the blue plaque on the old trading floor of Kleinwort Benson Securities that commemorates steamy hanky-panky many years ago. Also, with so many young bankers staring at silent telephones and wondering whether they will have a job in the New Year, it isn't at all surprising that inter-office thoughts turn to the birds and the bees.

The Eurodollar sector took centre stage this week in the international bond markets as a quartet of triple-A rated issuers took advantage of the sell-off in the US Treasury market and the consequent increase in investor demand for top quality dollar product. And the market expects to see more triple-A candidates in the coming week.

Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF), the Caracas-based multilateral, sneaked into the Yankee market at the beginning of this week to issue $85m of 20 year bonds to two US investors. Although executed on a reverse enquiry basis by Merrill Lynch, the deal could mark a last spurt of Latin bond issuance over the next four weeks before the market wraps up for the year.

Amount: Eu150m Maturity: November 7, 2005

Amount: Eu1.051bn Rating: Moody's/Fitch

Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill launched a scathing attack on an article published in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, which suggested that Weill could be personally charged with offences relating to conflicts of interest over the bank's research. Weill dismissed the claims as "outrageous speculation and wild inferences". The article in the WSJ was sparked by revelations from the New York state attorney general's office that it would be questioning Weill about Citigroup's research practices. The newspaper said that Weill has retained two lawyers, Lawrence Pedowitz and John Savrese from Watchell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to represent him in a personal probe.

aDeutsche Bank took advantage of improving equity market sentiment this week to place a 9.3% stake in Deutsche Börse, raising Eu360m. The placement, which was sold by Deutsche Bank as part of its continuing strategy of divesting non-core stakes, consisted of 10.4m shares sold at Eu34.5 apiece. The stake was the last material overhang remaining in the stock. This fact, combined with possibility of Deutsche Börse's inclusion in the Dax when membership of the benchmark German equity index is next reviewed, contributed to the deal's success.