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* ABN Amro Bank NV Rating: Aa2/AA/AA

Canary Wharf Group plc, owner of the spreading cluster of high rise offices at Canary Wharf in London’s Docklands, will next week begin marketing the first big European securitisation of the year. The £1.25bn deal, lead managed by Citigroup/Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley and RBS Financial Markets, is likely to be launched after two weeks of marketing.

Citibank (Nassau) has increased the size of its multi-currency global MTN facility to $1 billion from $500 million.

This week saw steady progress made by those EU convergence countries planning to launch deals over the next month. Bankers will be relieved when these transactions materialise - it has been an unusually quiet start to the year. The Republic of Croatia completes the European roadshow for its first deal of the year, a Eu500m seven year issue via CSFB and Deutsche Bank, in London today (Friday). Bankers at the leads said price talk should be available to investors this morning. Assuming it to be in line with secondary levels of the republic's outstanding issues, this would put the deal at around 140bp-150bp over swaps.

Aon Corp, the US insurance brokerage, has revealed a $450m securitisation of limited partnership private equity investments, which closed on New Year's Eve last year. The assets came from the group's insurance underwriting subsidiaries, Combined Insurance Co of America and Virginia Surety Co.

Prudential M&G, the UK's largest fixed income investor, opened the primary asset backed market last Friday with a Eu512.5m managed collateralised debt obligation backed by investment and high yield corporate bonds, leveraged loans and asset backed securities. Lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston, Panther CDO 2 was originally scheduled for launch last November, but was delayed due to market conditions.

Penstock Partners and Commerzbank Securities this week revealed details of a $1.34bn synthetic collateralised debt obligation launched on December 19. Spirit Finance-I Ltd is the first in a series of transactions planned by New York-based finance boutique Penstock. Two tranches of funded notes totalling $80m were offered beneath a triple-A rated $1.26bn credit default swap with XL Capital Assurance. Rated by Standard & Poor's, a triple-A piece of $60m and a double-A $20m piece were sold with legal maturities of December 2006.

* Morgan Stanley is preparing to launch Clare Island, a Eu400m collateralised debt obligation backed by loans and bonds originated by Allied Irish Banks. The books have already closed on a Eu30m triple-B piece, a Eu25m double-B piece and the equity thanks to strong investor interest. Market participants suggest that a Eu212m piece rated triple-A and Eu104m of double-A rated paper are still to be sold. Price talk on the triple-A piece is 45bp-48bp over six month Euribor and around 75bp over on the double-A paper. Around 70% of the primarily European portfolio consists of senior secured loans, 20% mezzanine loans and 10% high yield bonds. The deal is expected to be priced in early February.

Alan Lo, managing director and head of equity derivatives, Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong resigned last Monday. Reasons for the departure could not be determined. Lo declined all comment.

BNP Paribas and Lehman Brothers within the next few weeks will launch syndication of a $400 million loan backing CSG Systems International's acquisition of the billing and customer care assets of Lucent Technologies. Peter Kalan, cfo and v.p. of finance, said CSG has fully committed bank funding and the credit lines should carry spreads of between 2-3% over LIBOR. It could not be ascertained whether the banks bid for the business or if the loan is fully underwritten. Officials at both banks did not return calls.

BNP Paribas' bank deal for Navis Partners, backing the acquisition of MACTEC from CHB Capital Partners, hit the street running and could be full by the end of this week. A banker said some accounts committed to the $140 million, seven-year "B" tranche before the Jan. 18 launch and the "B" tranche is on its way to filling up. The deal also comprises a five-year, $35 million revolver. Pricing is LIBOR plus 4 1/4% on the term loan "B" and LIBOR plus 3 3/4% on the revolver.

Columbus McKinnon, is negotiating a new credit facility with FleetBoston Financial, its existing lead bank, after violating covenants on its existing $225 million facility. "We were planning to refinance anyway," said Robert Montgomery, executive v.p. and cfo of Columbus, an Amherst, N.Y.-based manufacturer of handling, lifting and positioning products. "The current agreement expires in March 2003 and we wanted a new one in advance of that." Officials at Fleet declined to comment.