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Guarantor: Endesa SA Rating: A2/A

In another disastrous week for Vivendi Universal, the ailing media group suffered at the hands of a confused investor base as it attempted to sell a Eu1.5bn stake in its utilities subsidiary, Vivendi Environnement, on Monday. The market had been expecting the deal for some time. The French media group has been toiling under a huge debt burden, which has weighed down its stock price. And it had made clear that it needed to reduce its position in Vivendi Environnement to below 50% to avoid having its water subsidiary's debt consolidated on its own balance sheet.

Mandated arrangers Danske Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and WestLB have signed banks into a Eu400m three year term loan for an A3 rated building society Irish Nationwide. The deal was twice oversubscribed from the launch amount of Eu200m.

Vulture investors, which can target returns of up to 20%, have been flapping over the WorldCom carcass, as the distressed debt sell side recorded one of its busiest days of the year yesterday (Thursday). But there was hesitancy from them too. "WorldCom is difficult to value and the price is being driven by technicals as accounts are forced to sell it. I have no faith in the numbers," said David Newport, Standard Bank Asset Management's senior portfolio manager responsible for distressed debt.

Documentation is under way in the ¥8.75bn three tranche deal for Tower Records KK arranged by JP Morgan. The arranger will close the facility in the next week or two. Arranger Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has completed a ¥35bn 364 day revolving credit facility for Mitsubishi Estate. The borrower specialises in property and real estate development.

Syndication of the Eu110m leveraged loan supporting the buy-out of Azimut from Bipop-Caire by Apax Partners is complete. BNL, HypoVereinsbank and Crédit Lyonnais joined as arrangers for Eu20m.

Arrangers Standard Chartered and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp have completed the $100m 364 day term loan for Korea First Bank. Market participants reacted positively towards the facility and as a result the deal was increased from $80m.

Mandated arranger Citigroup/SSB is set to launch the $75m three year facility for aluminium producer JSC Kazakhmys into syndication early next week. An early soft launch has revealed overwhelming support for the deal, thanks in part to the recent upgrade of Kazakhstan's rating to positive outlook by Standard & Poor's.

Arrangers HSBC and Commerzbank on Wednesday signed banks into the $100m three year facility for United Bank of Kuwait (UBK). The deal has been oversubscribed but an increase will not be accepted.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Sfr200m (fungible with Sfr300m issue launched 20/06/02)

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Z250m