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Royal Dutch/Shell this week announced its proposed takeover of Enterprise Oil for a cash offer of 725p per Enterprise share. Shell will take on £800m of Enterprise debt alongside its £3.5bn bid for Enterprise's equity - which values Enterprise at a total of £4.3bn.

* Aprilia Lux SA Guarantor: Aprilia SpA

* Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel Rating: A+

Securitisation specialists have begun to digest the surprise announcement two weeks ago from Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, that it planned to lay down hard rules for state securitisation accounting treatment in July. The move threatens to undermine one of the chief motivations for states to securitise - that EU governments can reduce debt to GDP ratios towards the target levels prescribed by the Maastricht treaty by using securitisation instead of normal borrowing.

Twenty-two euro trades were closed, but volumes on the whole were small. Just two borrowers went out over euro100 million ($87.97 million). International Bank for Reconstruction & Development traded the largest note - for euro415 million. The trade was led by Nomura and pays a semi-annual coupon of 3.850%. It matures on April 12 2005. French corporate, Entenial, did an 18-month euro200 million note via Credit Agricole Indosuez. It pays a coupon of 3m Euribor +12.5 basis points. Fellow French borrower, Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais, closed a euro50 million deal. The note goes out 10 years and was led by Salomon Smith Barney (SSB). SSB also led a one-year euro39.70 million deal for Linde Finance. Hypo Tirol Bank was the most active borrower in the euro market. It closed two euro50 million notes and also did a euro40 million trade. All three notes go out five years but carry different interest payment frequencies. And Hitachi Finance (UK) closed a euro10 million deal via Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe. The note matures in August of this year and pays a coupon of 3.100%.

According to a recent trading consultancy report, around half of US fund managers with over $1bn of assets under management do not use electronic order management systems, despite the widespread availability of such technology. Furthermore, 40% perform manual intervention for passing trades from portfolio manager to trader. However, investing in a customised and integrated electronic order management system is a prerequisite for any fund manager wishing to understand and minimise transaction costs, says Barry Marshall, chief operating officer in UK fund manager Gartmore's investment division.

International Lease Finance Corp, the world's largest lessor of third stage aircraft, is planning to launch a multi-currency two tranche bond denominated in euros and sterling. The deal will test investor appetite for airline related securities after September 11 and the subsequent downturn in the industry. It will be the first combined euro and sterling bond by a finance company and ILFC's second visit to the euro market, its first having been in 1999. Roadshows will start on April 8 and the company will visit the major financial centres in Europe to update investors on how the airline industry has changed as a result of the terror attacks.

Pechiney, the French aluminium manufacturer, squeezed every last drop out of a Eu517.5m convertible bond that it sold this week via BNP Paribas and JP Morgan. The banks launched the offering on Wednesday morning and by the time the books closed a few hours later they were seven times covered. Such was the demand for the issue that during the bookbuild the banks exercised an extension option to increase the size of the deal by 15% from an initial size of Eu450m.

RWE is to launch a Eu5bn plus equivalent issue in euros and sterling after a five day roadshow, which begins on Wednesday in London. BNP Paribas, Citigroup/SSSB and WestLB are to manage the euro tranche and JP Morgan and HSBC will lead a sterling tranche. Although there has been no official confirmation, five and 10 year euro tranches are expected, along with 11 and 30 year sterling tranches.

RWE is to launch a Eu5bn plus equivalent issue in euros and sterling after a five day roadshow, which begins on Wednesday in London. BNP Paribas, Citigroup/SSSB and WestLB are to manage the euro tranche and JP Morgan and HSBC will lead a sterling tranche. Although there has been no official confirmation, five and 10 year euro tranches are expected, along with 11 and 30 year sterling tranches.

Japanese investors have been aggressively selling-off foreign bonds amid fears that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates sooner than expected. Strong manufacturing data and a pick-up in consumer spending has caused alarm among Japanese investors who initially believed the chances of a US rate-hike would be negligible. Last week Japan's Finance Ministry issued data that showed that Japanese investors had unloaded ¥2.88 trillion-worth ($21.76 billion) of foreign bonds in March. Tadao Sakashima, deputy manager at Daiwa Securities, told Reuters on Thursday: "Investors had thought there was a negligible chance of a rate hike earlier in the year but they became increasingly wary of one in March as they saw the US economy appearing to turn the corner." The Fed slashed its key lending rate 11 times during 2001 by a total of 475 basis points to 1.75% but it is now factoring in the possibility of a 150 basis point rise by the end of the year. According to MTNWare, private yen issuance from US borrowers fell by 63% to $70.53 million from February to March.