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Three new high yield issues were priced in the past week, offering relief to investors starved of supply, although the difficulties in the credit markets put paid to Fresenius's hopes of pricing its planned Eu400m bond on Monday. Investors and bankers welcomed the issues for Sanitec International, Britax Group and JohnsonDiversey that did hit the market. "This is great," said one trader. "Keep them coming."

The Euro Commercial Paper Association (ECPA), is to merge with IPMA in a bid to increase its lobbying power and help realise the full potential of the ECP market. The ECP market is only $250bn in size, compared to the US commercial paper market, which is $1.4tr. Many participants feel that the ECP market has that potential to grow given the comparative size of funds under management in Europe and the US, but is being held back by the regulators of domestic markets.

Mandated arranger Barclays Capital is preparing to launch the one stage syndication of the Eu220m Huntstown combined cycle gas turbine power project possibly as soon as today (Friday). The 340MW tolling plant is sponsored by Viridian.

Barclays (joint bookrunner, documentation), IntesaBci (joint bookrunner, facility agent), Crédit Agricole, Interbanca, SG, Royal Bank of Scotland and UniCredito Italiano (joint bookrunner) have finally launched the eagerly anticipated debt facility supporting Edipower's takeover of Italian energy utility Enel's electricity subsidiary, Eurogen. The Eu3.675bn deal is divided into four portions. All tranches have an 18 month less one day maturity and carry an out-of-the-box margin of 100bp over Libor. The margins ratchet according to the ratings of the industrial sponsors. They are Edison Sondel, Atel and the Milan and Turin AEM energy municipalities.

JP Morgan has launched the ¥8.75bn leveraged buy-out financing for Tower Records by Nikko Principal Investments Japan. The arranger is inviting sub-underwriters to join before launching the facility into general syndication.

Rating: Aaa/AAA Amount: Z100m (fungible with Z150m issue launched 03/01/02)

Rating: A1/A Amount: Eu150m (fungible with Eu600m issue launched 21/03/02)

Amount: Eu100m (fungible with Eu100m issue launched 10/04/02) Landesschatzanweisung series 1 Maturity: April 30, 2009

Rating: Aa3/AA/AA- Amount: $1bn (fungible with $2bn issue launched 21/02/02)

Rating: A3/A- Amount: $100m (fungible with $300m issue launched 13/03/02)

The $50m five year facility for Union Internationale de Banques (UIB) is back on track after a delay last month due to Tunisia's sovereign bond offering. Arrangers Citigroup/SSSB (bookrunner) and ABC (facility agent) will launch the deal in the next two weeks now that the market is clear of the sovereign's $650m 10 year bond that was led by Merrill Lynch in early April.