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What has happened to the team that TJ Lim brought with him from Dresdner Kleinwort to Merrill Lynch? Of course, you remember those heady days two years ago when Merrill's chairman and CEO, David Komansky, persuaded Lim to return to Merrill when Steve Bellotti had disappeared into the mists of time and the mighty Merrill bond engine was starting to sputter. Did the hiring of TJ prove to be the answer to Merrill's prayers? Certainly no one has ever doubted TJ's skills, or his ability to turn a buck into a dollar and 20 cents. Better still, he instantly recognised Merrill's weakness in euro denominated bonds and hauled Merrill from 15th to fourth position in the league tables.

Guarantor: Islamic Republic of Iran Rating: B+ (Fitch)

The members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision made important concessions to banking and securities associations on Wednesday when they announced that they had reached agreement on several of the contentious issues surrounding the planned new capital accord. Their agreement boosts the accord's chances of being finalised by the end of next year. Implementation of the new accord is due to begin at the end of 2006 or the beginning of 2007.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $500m

As volatility rocked financial sector stocks this week, nervous debt market participants saw deal after deal postponed. "Investors are caught like rabbits in the headlights," said one syndicate manager. "The market deteriorated to such a degree, even compared to a week ago, that it is not a question of spread. You just cannot get deals done in a market like this."

Mandated lead arranger Royal Bank of Scotland and joint arranger BNP Paribas will launch the Eu11m debt facility backing the buy-out of Actaris Allocation Services into syndication on Monday. The debt is split into five tranches. Tranche 'A', which offers a margin of 225bp over Euribor, is divided into a Eu3.145m amortising term loan 'A1' and a Eu31.95m amortising term loan 'A2'. Tranche 'B' is a Eu13.2m bullet term loan paying 275bp. Tranche 'C' is a Eu11.7m bullet term loan offering 325bp. There is a Eu10m revolver which pays 225bp and a Eu6m acquisition line which offers 225bp.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: $7.002795bn

Amount: $291m Legal maturity: July 10, 2014

Bankers invited to commit to the $1.2bn working capital revolver for ThyssenKrupp attended a management meeting in Germany this week. One banker EuroWeek spoke to was surprised that the deal has been fully underwritten by the mandated lead arrangers BHF-Bank/ING Bank, BNP Paribas, Citigroup/SSSB, Commerzbank and WestLB. "It seems strange that the borrower would pay extra fees for an underwritten facility when the deal is refinancing a liquidity backstop," said a market participant.

BNP Paribas and Citigroup/SSSB will sign banks into the $200m three year revolver for Harley Davidson Services Europe today (Friday). The deal was closed heavily oversubscribed, but because the borrower will not be increasing the loan, commitments will be scaled back.

Guarantor: Bank of Scotland Rating: Aa2/AA/AA+

BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank are set to price high yield deals today (Friday), as the market shows signs of picking up from its recent lull. Carmeuse Lime, rated Ba3/BB-, will launch an Eu175m 10 year tranche to yield 10.5%-11% and a five year floating rate note at Euribor plus 400bp through BNP Paribas. Deutsche will lead a Eu150m nine year bond to yield 9.875%-10.125% for Elf Antargaz, rated B2/B.