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Guarantor: Fortis NV Rating: Aa3/A+/A+

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $1bn Freddie SUBS

EuroWeek hears that luxury goods company LVMH has requested proposals from its closest banks for a new syndicated loan. LVMH last borrowed when it secured a $380m revolving credit facility in September 2001.

The German banking sector is set to provide debt origination teams with plenty of opportunities over the coming years. In particular, legal issues affecting the Landesbanks and financial pressures on the country's commercial banks will lead to greater pricing and credit differentiation which will drastically alter the new issue landscape for financial instituitions. Philip Moore reports. Over the longer term, those investment banks that are cutting back on their commitment to the German market may come to regret the strategy, given the sheer importance of Germany within the context of the European capital market and the far-reaching changes that need to be engineered in so many industries - above all, in its banking sector. "As Europe's largest economy Germany clearly remains a key market for us and it is one that will provide a great number of opportunities," says Richard Zirps, director of debt capital markets at Lehman Brothers in London. "The corporate market remains attractive, but we see continuing opportunities arising from the German bank and insurance sectors where issues such as consolidation and capital management are important."

France Télécom's (FT) announcement of its third quarter results this week led to an animated debate in the loan markets about how FT plans to deal with its overwhelming Eu70bn of debt. There was nothing surprising about the results which merely highlighted the strong cashflows of FT's mobile phone subsidiary Orange and the weakness of its fixed line revenues.

Arrangers HVB Group and Mizuho have signed banks into the Eu695m of debt facilities backing the Doughty Hanson led buy-out of Auto Teile Unger. Allied Irish Banks, Abbey National, Bank of Ireland, Lloyds, NIB Capital and SEB joined as arrangers.

Is Germany really becoming a European Japan? It is an argument that is gaining credibility not only in New York and London but perhaps most worryingly in Frankfurt. Alongside the weak banking system, common characteristics include stock market and property bubbles, unproductive corporate cross-holdings, reliance on banks as big lenders in the economy and social barriers to change. Philip Moore reports. Dark clouds are gathering over Germany, a country that was not so long ago Europe's brightest economic prospect. The Pfandbrief, once a symbol of strength, is weakened. The guarantee mechanisms of Anstaltslast and Gewährträgerhaftung, which made life so simple for the Landesbanks, survive only because of an artificial life support machine that will be turned off in 2005. The plug has already been pulled on the Neuer Markt.