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Bondholders voting at a meeting on Wednesday agreed to buy back all but two of Railtrack's £1.6bn of bonds, delaying the completion of Network Rail's purchase of Railtrack debt until September. At least 75% of the bondholders needed to vote and a clear majority had to be in agreement for the sale to proceed.

The pressure is building for EuroMTN dealers. The number of new programmes being signed is falling and the emphasis on gaining new dealership mandates and retaining existing dealerships is becoming immense. More than 20 houses can claim to be credible dealers in the market, but Deutsche Bank and Citigroup/SSSB are arguably the two most established names and this is reflected in the dealer added league table (see table). But despite being a dealer on over half of the new facilities signed this year, Chris Cox, head of EuroMTN trading at Citigroup/SSSB, said that it is not the group's policy to go for every mandate available.

Rating: B2/B-/B- Amount: $750m

Royal & SunAlliance's share price fell 21.5% yesterday (Thursday) after it admitted that it was looking at a rights issue to make up for a shortfall in capital. The UK insurer embarked on a programme earlier this year to raise £800m in capital through disposals and restructuring. It has nearly raised that amount, but yesterday said that the £800m would not be enough to fund all the business that it wants to undertake.

Mandated arrangers BNP Paribas, Citigroup/SSSB and WestLB are due to launch the $450m five year facility for Sibneft into general syndication next week. RZB and Natexis Banques Populaires have joined as arrangers and BGB, Fortis Bank, HSBC, Moscow Narodny Bank and Shell also joined during senior syndication. The facility consists of two tranches: a $300m 3-1/2 year tranche that carries a margin of 350bp over Euribor; and a $150m five year tranche paying a margin of 410bp over Libor.

Senior syndication of the Eu2.35bn acquisition financing for Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is proving harder work than expected. A couple more banks are still to decide whether to commit - if they do it is likely to be with take-and-holds.

Sole mandated arranger Sumitomo has launched the Eu97m five year facility for Slovak Telekom into syndication. The deal carries an EIB guarantee and carries a guaranteed fee of 85bp over Libor. Two levels of participation have been offered: lead arranger for a ticket of Eu15m for a fee of 75bp; and arranger for a ticket of Eu10m for a fee of 65bp.

After weeks of bad news, the announcement that the IMF had granted Brazil a $30bn crisis rescue package brought a glimmer of light into the market. It not only boosted Brazilian bonds and stock market, but offered a ray of hope to international markets as well. Spreads on banking sector bonds rallied and equity markets also improved. Corporate spreads generally were a touch wider but bonds of companies with Brazilian exposure, such as Telefónica and Portugal Telecom, had a field day, both credits tightening by 50bp and 35bp respectively.

Banks invited to sub-underwrite the debt facilities backing the Clayton, Dubilier & Rice-led buy-out of Brake Bros attended a meeting in London on Wednesday. A site visit is planned for today (Friday). Sub-underwriters have been invited to commit £50m for 130bp. Some £295m of senior debt is divided into a £70m seven year term loan 'A' paying 225bp over Libor, a £60m eight year term loan 'B' offering 275bp and a £60m nine year term loan 'C' paying 325bp. There is also a £75m seven year revolver which offers 225bp and a £30m seven year capex facility which carries a margin of 250bp.

Deal volume was highest this week in the under three year sector, which saw $1.74bn issued off 56 trades. Bank of Scotland Treasury Services closed a two year HK$200m trade with JP Morgan as bookrunner. The note carries an annual coupon of 2.505%. The same borrower also issued a two year $25m deal. Reuters Group closed a ¥2bn trade that has a zero coupon and matures on August 29, 2003, while Parkland Finance tapped the sterling market with a £25m trade off of its secured EuroMTN programme. Parkland's deal pays interest monthly.

Just one public utility came to the market this week. Deutsche Flugsicherung issued a ¥2.5bn two year trade which pays an annual coupon of 0.05%. The same borrower also closed a five year Eu50m note, paying interest quarterly, via bookrunner Goldman Sachs. In the private utility sector, Essent traded a one year ¥5bn note paying an annual coupon of 0.09%. Deutsche Bank placed the trade. And RWE closed two deals: a HK$50m trade via Lehman Brothers; and five year ¥5bn trade via JP Morgan. The Hong Kong dollar deal matures on February 13, 2004, carries a first short coupon of 5.608% and then pays 25bp over non-Libor. The yen note has an annual coupon of 0.78%.