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Competition for the mandate to arrange $1.2bn worth of bond issues over the next two years for El Salvador will reach fever pitch next week when the five banks shortlisted by the sovereign will make verbal presentations. The five shortlisted banks are understood to be Deutsche Bank, CSFB, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney, all of which submitted their proposals this week.

Brazil * Petrobras International Finance

Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg (EnBW), one of Germany's largest utilities, signed its euro3 billion ($2.59 billion) Euro-MTN programme this week under the issuer name EnBW International Finance. Barclays Capital is the arranger. They are joined on the dealer panel by BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC-CCF, JPMorgan, LBBW, Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg. The shelf has been due to sign for a while, but the issuer chose to wait until it had received confirmed programme ratings from the rating agencies. Moody's has assigned it an A2 rating and Standard & Poor's gives it a rating of A+. Ingo Voigt, head of capital markets at EnBW, explains the reasoning behind the signing of the facility. He says: "We are a first time issuer in the debt capital markets. We had to decide whether to trade a straight one-off bond or sign an issuance programme. For us, the programme was the best option, as it will give us much more flexibility and efficiency. Why do the work many times when you can just do it once?" The benchmark trade is to be issued in February via Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank. It will be denominated in euro but the final size of the trade has yet to be decided. The first funds will be used to finance the acquisition of neighbouring German utility, NWS. Voigt told MTNWeek that EnBW has no set targets for issuance in 2002 and is happy to wait and see how the first issue is received by the market. EnBW was formed in 1997 through the merger of two regional utilities.

English & Scottish Investors investment trust was forced to regroup this week after Caledonia Investments, the largest single shareholder, decided to sell out of the trust. But the motivation behind Caledonia's move is not clear. Despite assertions from Caledonia's chairman Sir Peter Buckley that the move was not the result of pressure applied by Caledonia's shareholders or the poor performance of English & Scottish, one analyst was not convinced.

* ABN Amro Bouwfonds Nederlandse Gemeenten NV Rating: Aa3/AA-

* Argenta Nederland NV Guarantor: Argenta Banque d'Epargne SA

Volumes were high in euro, as 24 trades gave it a 69% share of the market in terms of volume. German and French issuers were the most active, but there were three trades closed each by Spanish and Dutch borrowers. Caymadrid International closed the largest note of the Spanish issuers. Its euro500 million ($430.70 million) trade matures on August 22 2003. The note pays a coupon of 3m Euribor flat and was led by Salomon Smith Barney. Instituto de Credito Oficial did a euro300 million note that settles on January 8 2005. And BCL International Finance is to issue a euro25 million deal. The one-year note pays a coupon of 3.625%. Dutch issuer, Friesland Bank, did a five-year euro150 million trade. And CSFB's financial repackaged entity, BOATS Investments (Netherlands), closed a euro2.13 million note and a euro1.08 million note. The two trades had lengthy maturities of December 1 2031 and January 1 2032 respectively. It was Bayerische Landesbank that closed the largest note. Its euro750 million trade matures on August 8 next year. Fellow German issuer, Westfalische Hypothekenbank, did a euro300 million trade. The note pays a coupon of 3m Euribor +3 basis points and matures on August 14 2003. Societe Generale was the bookrunner. DAPO Bank is to issue a two-year euro50 million note, which pays an annual coupon of 4.250%. And DaimlerChrysler Co-ordination Center closed a one-year euro20 million note that pays interest on a monthly basis. Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) closed two notes. It did a euro100 million trade that matures on May 11 2005. It also closed a euro10 million note that pays a coupon of 12.750%. The note settles on July 1 this year. Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier de France did an eight-year euro15 million note that pays an annual coupon of 5.600%. Elsewhere, New York Life Funding closed a euro300 million note that goes out to February 16 2009. The trade was placed by Goldman Sachs and pays a coupon of 5.250%.

Twenty-four euro trades were closed - the same as the previous day. Maturities were mostly in the short- to mid-term. Outside of the usually dominant French and German issuers, Swedish bank Spintab closed a euro200 million ($174.18 million) deal that matures on August 14 2003. The trade pays interest quarterly. And Sabadell International Finance did a euro150 million note that settles on January 6 2007. French issuers were the most active, closing eight trades. Banque PSA Finance did a one-year euro20 million note. Credit Agricole Indosuez and Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) both traded three euro notes respectively. German corporate, Erdolbevorratungsverband (EBV), was the only issuer to go out for ten years. It did a euro30 million note via HVB Germany. The note pays an annual coupon of 5.205%. DePfa-Bank Europe also closed for euro30 million. Its fixed-rate note matures on February 24 2003 and was led by Goldman Sachs. Barclays Capital led a one-year euro20 million eonia-linked note for Linde Finance. Bayerische Landesbank did the largest trade - an 18-month euro250 million note that pays interest quarterly. Elsewhere, Banque Generale du Luxembourg did a one-year euro5 million fund-linked trade. The note pays a quarterly coupon of 9.000%. Merrill Lynch was the bookrunner.

It was the busiest day's trading for some time as 30 issues were closed. Both UK and US issuers came to the market in big volume alongside the usual big German names. Abbey National Treasury Services closed two notes. It did a two-year euro500 million ($433.95 million) trade and a euro8.40 million note that reaches out to October 8 2013. General Electric Capital Corp is to issue a euro250 million FRN that settles on August 12 2003. The note pays a coupon of 3m Euribor flat and was led by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Among German issuers, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg did two trades for euro250 million each. One of the trades is a tranche added to a euro500 million trade issued on 30 November 2001. The note was led by Barclays Capital and has a spread of 25 basis points over the OBL 138. Salomon Smith Barney (SSB) led notes for two issuers. It placed a euro10 million deal for Espirito Santo Investment. The note pays an annual coupon of 7.000% and matures on February 6 2007. SSB also led a one-year euro50 million note for Portugal Telecom International Finance. Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank closed a euro44 million note that matures on February 25 2005. The note has a fixed coupon of 3.630% and comes of the issuer's Uridashi shelf. Mizuho was the bookrunner.

Everton has become the latest UK football club to endorse the value of asset backed financing by preparing a $75m private securitisation of its future season ticket receivables via Bear Stearns. Although Bear has previously been involved in stadium financing in the US, this is the bank's first deal for a UK football club. The offering is a 25 year fixed rate deal shadow rated triple-B by Fitch. Funds raised will contribute to the club's four year debt reduction plan. Proceeds could also help buy new players and play a role in the financing of a new 55,000 seat arena in the Kings Dock in Liverpool.

A glut of Russian oil-related financings are set to come to the market over the coming four weeks, meaning that February will likely be the busiest month for Russian deals since the 1998 crisis. In total, some $1.125bn of Russian oil-related credit facilities will be launched this month - a substantial chunk of the $5bn of facilities that the Russian oil sector needs over the year. The result of the February rush for funds will undoubtedly set the tone for the prospects of the oil firms realising their year's funding needs.

Fitness First, Europe's largest health club operator, launched a £75m placing and open offer yesterday (Thursday), as it revealed annual profits above analysts' expectations. The group has expanded rapidly over recent years, and needs the cash to carry out its strategy of rolling out 80 new clubs every year.