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CSFB and JP Morgan will sign eight banks into the £295m senior debt facilities backing the buy-out of Brake Bros from Clayton Dubilier & Rice once the institutions have been through the documentation. Four UK banks have joined with the balance made up of US and European banks. It is unlikely that the deal will be launched into a retail phase.

Supranationals closed 20 trades this week for $469.91m, with Mizuho placing many of the trades. The World Bank was active in Australian dollars, closing three trades in that currency. Two of the notes for A$20m and A$38m were led by Mizuho. The Japanese bank also placed a A$100m note for Inter-American Development Bank, which settles on September 4, 2007. Mizuho was also the bookrunner on a ¥500m trade for the EBRD. The note has a variable coupon linked to the yen/dollar exchange rate according to a knock-out formula.

The biggest volumes were done in the three to five year sector this week with $1.37bn closed from 50 trades. Banks were dominant, issuing 42 of these deals, but some other sectors were active. American Honda Finance boosted issuance by private corporates with four yen deals totalling ¥13bn. One of the notes - a ¥3bn three year trade - was led by Nomura. The same borrower also closed a $20m three year note that pays an annual coupon of 3.257%. Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français was the sole utility to tap the three year area. The triple-A rated borrower closed a Eu43m trade that settles on September 26, 2005. The note carries a semi-annual coupon of 3.27%. The EBRD issued a A$20m three year note that pays a semi-annual coupon of 4.7%.

Double-A issuance featured strongly this week, with $2.2bn issued through 97 trades in a wide range of currencies. Allstate Life Funding closed the biggest yen deal from the double-A category, a ¥10bn issue that matures on March 11, 2004. The note was priced at 3.3bp over Libor and carries a coupon of three month Libor flat. Westdeutsche Landesbank tapped the Polish zloty sector with a Z50m four year issue. The note has an annual coupon of 7%.

Barclays Bank is arranging a new $600m refinancing for British American Tobacco (BAT). The deal will be targeted at BAT's close relationship banks.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Eu1bn

Rating: Aa2/AA Amount: $2bn (increased from $1bn)

The latest batch of documents to be subpoenaed from Citigroup show that Bernie Ebbers, the disgraced former chief executive of WorldCom, was able to use his influential position as a valued member of the bank's retail client list to gain preferential access to "hot" IPOs that personally netted him more than $11m over a four year period from 1996 to 2000. The most recent revelations about Citigroup's IPO allocation practices have caused the bank's share price to fall sharply. News of the large profits that WorldCom officials made, combined with a downgrade from Prudential Securities on the bank's stock to "sell", sent Citigroup's share price spiralling down by more than 10% when the markets opened in the US on Tuesday, after Monday's Labor Day holiday.

Never let it be said that our opinions in these columns go completely unnoticed. Didn't we suggest that SG and ABN Amro had no reason to be involved in the hugely competitive world of corporate finance and M&A advisory work, where costs rise ever upwards towards the stars? And did anyone listen? It looks that way, because before you could say "Whatever happened to Stephen Brisby?" SG had pulled down its investment banking colours and run up the white flag. The French nation went into mourning and Tricolours were knocked down at half price to passing Japanese tourists on the Champs Elysée.