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\Kazakhoil this week followed two previous Russian issuers in targeting the euro market with high yielding corporate paper in a clean Eu125m five year deal via ABN Amro. The Ba3/BB rated bond carries a 9% coupon and was priced to yield 465bp over Bunds. "This was a first time issuer, so every account, including the local buyers, had to do their credit homework," said Reid Payne, head of emerging markets syndicate at ABN Amro. "The fact that we were able to place so much paper with European investors shows their confidence in this credit, and their confidence in the support it would receive from Kazakh buyers."

Islandsbanki's Ingvar Ragnarsson and Bill Symington, Iceland's favourite teetotallers, have outdone themselves this week with their invitation to the market for their second Thorrablot party. Leak can't work out if their enthusiasm is designed to entice or scare off the delicate palates of the MTN community, because yes, the shark meat, sheep's testicles and brimfuls of brennivin are back. Along with plastic DIY Viking helmets, Leak was sent a quite spectacular menu - on the outside at least. The contents however, described by the Islandsbanki boys as a 'gastronomic Valhalla', did little to live up to that plaudit. The only two dishes that sounded edible, onion tart and beef Wellington, were labelled 'Off' in the margin. The young chap who ended last year's party with his head between his knees and looking a poltergeist shade of green, may be joined by a few others this year. The bash will be held in The Bluebird Club on London's King's Road. Leak hopes the market had a happy Valentine's day and hopes to see everyone in their Viking helmets next Wednesday.

Brazil Compania Votorantim de Celulose e Papel (VCP) is in the market with a $380m three year export credit facility.

Kommunalbanken has increased the size off its euro4 billion ($3.48 billion) programme for debt issuance to euro5 billion. Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe and Nomura have been added to the now 12-strong dealer panel.

Congratulations to Lehman Brothers, the firm that has had the courage to declare war on "dress down" Mondays to Fridays. Now Lehman men will have to wear suits, unless they are buried deep in the bowels of the back-office and are never allowed to be seen by visiting clients. Lehman's decision is a return to common sense. We deliberately try not to visit too many offices, but when we have no choice, the impression is one of entering an Oxfam jumble-sale room for charity clothes. It is really a sad state of affairs when the best dressed people you see are the lowly paid security guards, who take their dress cue from nightclub bouncers.

Lloyds TSB has sole underwritten a $300m debt facility backing Smith & Nephew's (S&N) $310m cash offer for US based Oratec. The mandate for the loan was signed on Tuesday and S&N announced its acquisition yesterday (Thursday). It is expected that the $300m credit will be taken out at a later stage with a longer syndicated facility targeted at selected relationship banks.

Diminishing volumes because of a drop in M&A and a shaky telecoms sector challenged the loan market in 2001. At the end of last year, loan bankers were confident that with an improved economic environment volumes would increase in 2002. However, with daily credit scares and profit warnings, M&A volumes show no sign of returning to the levels of 1999 and 2000, and the TMT sector has not yet stabilised. This week EuroWeek conducted a straw poll of syndication bankers at the top 12 loan houses in London to reveal what attitudes persist in the first two months of 2002.

Merrill Lynch has made three senior appointments to its global foreign exchange business, which the firm identified at the beginning of the year as one for investment and expansion. William Shek, the former head of Asian currency trading at Goldman Sachs, will join the Hong Kong office on March 1 with the same title of head of currency trading.

Oman The details of the $1bn Oman India Fertiliser Company (Omifco) project are being finalised ahead of the launch of syndication, which is expected in the next two weeks.

Croatian food and retail conglomerate Agrokor has set out on a European roadshow for its Eu150m-Eu200m five year bond via Credit Suisse First Boston, but launch of the deal is likely to be held up by four to six months while a possible downgrade by Moody's is clarified. The roadshow follows the resurrection of Agrokor's Eurobond ambitions, first reported by EuroWeek over a month ago, after it aborted an Eu150m offering planned in 2000 via UBS Warburg.

* A former research head at Merrill Lynch, Charles Lambert, is moving behind the scenes to Research Summary, a knowledge management company that enables clients to pool investment research. Lambert was a chemicals analyst with Smith New Court before Merrill Lynch acquired the firm in 1995. He had worked his way up to head of EMEA research and global co-head of equity research before announcing his departure at the end of last year. "I just felt like a change," he told EuroWeek.

* European Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA