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SelmaBipiemme, a leasing company majority owned by Mediobanca, this week launched its debut securitisation, a Eu600m securitisation of vehicle equipment and real estate leases. Lead managed by Mediobanca and Morgan Stanley the deal is the second time Mediobanca has securitised assets from its consumer and leasing division as a funding diversification tool.

Germany joined the football securitisation league this week with the completion of a Eu85m transaction for Schalke 04, the first German club to use the technique. Arranged by Schechter & Co, the 23 year private placement is rated triple-B by Fitch and backed by ticket and hospitality revenues from the Arena AufSchalke at Gelsenkirchen, in the heart of Germany's Ruhr industrial region. The coupon was undisclosed, with an average life of 17 years. Three investors participated from the US and one from the UK.

Caixa d'Estalvis de Catalunya this week tapped its Hipocat programme with a Eu696m securitisation of performing flexible mortgage loans, lead managed by SG. It is the bank's third securitisation in as many years of its flexible mortgage product, which allows customers to draw further amounts on their loans and temporarily defer interest and principal payment.

JP Morgan (joint bookrunner) and Mediobanca (joint bookrunner) have been mandated by Enel to arrange the refinancing of a Eu5bn revolver signed in 2001. The pricing, tenor and structure of the new deal will be similar to the loan it refinances. The 364 day deal offered an initial margin of 25bp over Euribor, which ratcheted on a ratings grid. A top ticket of Eu300m offered a fee of 10bp.

Joint lead arrangers and underwriters WestLB, SG and Lehman Brothers are preparing to launch the syndication of the £426.4m of senior credit facilities for the new Wembley National Stadium into the market next week. A bank presentation is scheduled for the week after. The pricing on the senior debt is set to range between 200bp over Libor to 250bp, which some bankers are describing as priced to sell.

Charter Communications is the talk of the loan market this week, following the company's announcement that its chief operating officer, David Barford, was placed on paid leave due to the pending status of a grand jury subpoena. The bank debt traded in the 81 1/2 - 82 1/4 context, although traders noted that trading was thin as market players got comfortable with the news. At these levels, some distressed funds are starting to look at the name, some traders added. Calls to Kent Kalkwarf, cfo, were not returned by press time.

Barclays Capital plans to bolster its New York credit-default swap trading desk as part of a global effort to beef up its credit derivatives capability. The hiring is spearheaded by Spencer Jesner, director and head of U.S. credit-default swap trading, who recently joined from JPMorgan. "My brief is to build up the team," said Jesner. Although no timeframe has been set to make the hires, Jesner noted that the longer the firm waits the more expensive the project will be, because firms are nearing bonus season.

Storebrand Alternative Investments, the alternative asset management arm of Norwegian insurer Storebrand, is considering making its first use of derivatives to offer a capital guarantee on a planned fund of hedge funds launch. Ove Christian Norheim, managing director in Oslo, said the asset manager will select a derivatives house, through its sister company Storebrand Investments, to manage the guarantee if it goes ahead with the plan. Hans Aanis, cio at Storebrand Investments in Oslo, said it would select derivatives counterparties according to credit rating and price. The decision to offer the product will hinge on customer demand.

BNP Paribas is swapping two of its equity derivatives traders between New York and Hong Kong. Olaf Kasten, senior equity derivatives trader in Hong Kong, has moved to New York to replace Oren Amsellem, senior equity derivatives trader in New York, who will soon head to Asia. "It's a swap," said Laurent De Meyere, managing director and Asian head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong, declining further comment. Amsellem is transferring to Hong Kong for personal reasons, he said. Kasten declined comment.

Traders in Hong Kong said Deutsche Bank has been building up a massive over-the-counter equity option position in HSBC over the past few weeks, which has been the buzz of the market. Equity officials said the German bank has been buying around USD40 million (notional) of calls per day for the past several weeks and as a result short-term implied volatility on HSBC options has jumped 10 basis points to 35bps. "They've been quite aggressive," said one equity derivatives head in Hong Kong, noting that Deutsche Bank has been purchasing a variety of call options in various maturities roughly daily. He added, "I'm quite puzzled by it." Nick Fennell, head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong, declined comment.

Deutsche Bahn Finance, the finance-arm of the German rail network, has entered a cross-currency interest rate swap to convert a CHF75 million (USD55.6 million) fixed rate bond into a euro-denominated synthetic floater. Hartwig Schneidereit, head of capital markets and risk management in Berlin, said the rail firm pays a six-month Euribor-based rate and receives the 3.06% coupon on the bond. The swap mirrors the 10-year maturity of the bond.

The European members of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's weather derivatives working group have met ahead of this week's global meeting. The European group is recommending that ISDA publish a standard long-form confirmation for swaps and caps, the two basic types of weather derivatives, before developing a product-specific definitional booklet. In addition, its members think there is no need to refer to the 1993 ISDA commodity derivatives definitions and that transactions should be described as "weather index derivatives transactions," with the index described within the confirmation.