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* BCL International Finance Ltd Guarantor: Banco de Credito Local de Espana SA

Twenty trades were closed for $1.72 billion. Landesbank Hessen-Thuringen was responsible for a large proportion of that volume. It closed a euro1 billion ($875.56 million) syndicated note via BNP Paribas and Salomon Smith Barney. The trade is priced to yield approximately 13 basis points over the swap rate and has a 10-year tenor. Fellow German borrower, Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank, closed an 11-year euro25 million trade. The plain vanilla note was led by Hypovereinsbank. UK corporate, Beta Finance Corp, did three trades for euro5.35 million each. The trades each have different maturity dates - March 20 2004, September 23 2004 and April 1 2005. Fellow UK corporate, Gallaher Group, closed a euro150 million trade that settles on January 28 2005. The note carries a coupon of 4.875%. Banque Generale du Luxembourg self-led two trades. It did a two-year euro3 million reverse-convertible note that pays a coupon of 12.250%. And it closed a two-year euro10.25 million range-accrual trade that has a coupon of 3m Euribor flat.

David Salisbury, the former chief executive of Schroders, has joined niche US fund manager Dimensional Fund Advisers as chief executive of its European operations. Salisbury, who was ousted from Schroders after a boardroom battle last August, has the job of winning European clients for Dimensional, which manages European assets for US clients.

Croatia * Agrokor dd

Actuarial consultancy WM Mercer has predicted that under the new UK pension fund accounting standard, FRS 17, half of the UK's top companies will see a reduction in net balance sheet assets. Tim Keogh, European partner at Mercer, told EuroWeek: "The annual accounts I've seen so far reinforce our forecast, but it won't be until the end of April, just before the AGM season in May, that we get the full picture." Keogh played down the impact of FRS 17: "I don't think FRS 17 is going to have a significant impact on companies and their balance sheets on its own - the risks are already there. Even for the 10% of companies seeing the biggest impact, it depends where they are coming from and if they already have strong balance sheets. Furthermore, even if you disclose a pension fund deficit under FRS 17, there is no effect on a company's cashflow, which remains governed by the existing funding rules."

Global asset manager Fidelity International Ltd (FIL), rated A2/A, launched its debut euro bond last Friday, a Eu500m 10 year offering priced at 85bp over mid-swaps. However, despite being the first visit to the euro market by any pure fund manager, the deal, led by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, did not prove as smooth as expected A lack of comparables meant that a price discovery process was required, and price guidance was kept well under wraps. But bankers looking at the deal before the roadshow had suggested the deal should come a little wide of 75bp, at a premium to single-A bank debt and close to the insurance sector.

Fidelity Investments has launched a UK Long Corporate Bond Fund, targeting a return of 0.75% per year over a rolling three year basis above the Merrill Lynch Over 10 Year Eurosterling Index. The fund will invest in a diversified list of sterling non-Gilts, including investment grade corporate, supranational and agency bonds. Alex Veys, a fidelity portfolio manager, said that with the yield curve flat, corporate bond supply would come from companies such as Sainsbury's (now issuing a 30 year and a 15 year bond) that have traditionally issued at the short end. "An issuer can pretty much issue a 30 year for the same yield as a five year bond, so companies can lock in low interest rates," he said.

The overwhelming demand for top quality paper in the high grade dollar market, and at the long end in particular, was spectacularly demonstrated this week when triple-A rated General Electric Capital Corp launched an $11bn global bond, the biggest ever corporate dollar denominated deal, and one that incorporated the largest every 30 year bond.

The overwhelming demand for top quality paper in the high grade dollar market, and at the long end in particular, was spectacularly demonstrated this week when triple-A rated General Electric Capital Corp launched an $11bn global bond, the biggest ever corporate dollar denominated deal, and one that incorporated the largest every 30 year bond.

* Hungarian Foreign Trade Bank Ltd (MKB) Rating: A3

Autoroutes du Sud de France (ASF), operator of Europe's largest toll-road network, kicked off its long-awaited Eu2.4-Eu2.8bn IPO yesterday (Thursday). The French government will sell 49% of its stake in the company, combined with an Eu800m capital increase from ASF, in the biggest European IPO of the year so far. The deal is being led by HSBC-CCF and Crédit Lyonnais.

HVB Group is preparing to sell to institutional and retail investors a Eu300m-Eu600m perpetual non-call 10 tier one transaction dubbed ERICS - European Retail and Institutional Capital Securities - via ABN Amro and HypoVereinsbank ABN Amro will market the paper in the Benelux, while HVB will sell to Germany, Austria, Spain and Portugal. The banks hope that by combining their complementary distribution and using an institutional structure, HVB Group will be able to build on its track record of retail targeted sub debt issues and attract an institutional bid.