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Bankers from institutions invited to commit to the $130m three year reducing revolver for steel company Iscor attended a meeting at Trinity House in London on Wednesday. There was a good turnout at the gathering and the mood was optimistic. "So far this year there has been far less loan issuance out of South Africa than the market expected so this deal has scarcity value," said a banker at the meeting.

Barclays, Citigroup/SSSB and JP Morgan are close to securing the mandate to arrange and bookrun a Eu2bn facility for Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico. Details of the facility have not been released. However, EuroWeek understands that the loan, which will partly refinance debt and partly fund acquisitions, will be split into a three and a five year piece.

Baa1/BBB+/A- rated Telecom Italia braved the market this week by mandating HSBC, JP Morgan and Mediobanca to arrange its Eu7bn revolver. The telecoms sector had been spooked a week earlier by Deutsche Telekom being downgraded by Standard & Poor's and put on Watchlist by Moody's.

Amount: Skr1bn Rating: Moody's/Fitch

Rating: AAA Amount: $250m (fungible with three issues totalling $1bn first launched 12/10/01) lettres de gage publiques

Compiled by Stephanie Weedon, HSBC Bank plc, London Tel: +44 20 7336 3525

The Eu150m facility for Finish nuclear power company Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) was signed on Wednesday. Nordea and Sampo Bank are mandated arrangers for the deal. BayernLB joined as a co-arranger.

Focus Wickes, the home improvement retailer, said this week that it will raise £190m when it floats before the end of the summer. The announcement came as the group, which is the UK's second largest DIY chain, announced a 20.2% growth in turnover for the six months ending April 28.

International Lease Finance Corp has added four bank names to the dealer panel off its $4 billion Euro-MTN programme. The added dealers are ABN Amro, Banc of America, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan. They join the existing eight-strong panel.

Elis is assessing the second round of bids for the French businesses it has put up for auction. With senior debt to Ebitda at 3.9 times, leveraged loan bankers in London are describing the potential deal as a "dream leveraged buy-out".

General Electric Capital Corp (GECC) will today (Friday) pay the price of its heavier reliance on the term debt markets this year when it launches a $6bn two tranche global bond paying larger than usual new issue concessions. The deal, via Bank of America, Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley, will include five and 10 year tranches. The $2.25bn five year tranche will be priced at 75bp-77bp over USTs, compared with a spread of 69bp yesterday (Thursday) on GECC's 5.375% 2007s, and a $3.75bn 10 year piece at 106bp-108bp, when its outstanding 5.875% 2012s are at around 99bp.