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The world's third biggest music company, EMI Group, will be swinging into the market early next week when arrangers Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citigroup/ SSSB, JP Morgan and Royal Bank of Scotland launch its £1.3bn deal into syndication. Proceeds will be used to refinance bilaterals. The deal will be the music company's first step into the syndicated loan market.

* Key Bank NA Rating: A1/A/A+

Over $622 million was issued off 16 notes in US dollar. HSBC Bank USA stayed at the short end with a $250,000 one-month note and a $400,000 three-month trade. Credit Lyonnais Finance (Guernsey) issued a $10 million four-month note. Two issuers went out to one year. Landesbank Sachsen did a $20 million plain vanilla trade via Goldman Sachs. The interest is linked to 3m $Libor -1 basis point. The issuer also issued a one-year note in euro and said that most of its recent notes were for this tenor to meet investor demand. SGA also went out one year with a deal for $2 million. At the long end Danske Bank issued a $10 million 10-year note and ABN Amro Bank also went for this maturity with a $5 million deal. But Spintab raised the biggest volume with a $500 million non-syndicated 18-month trade.

Supranationals raised $150 million of the $570.53 million in US dollar. European Investment Bank and World Bank issued notes for $20 million that go out to 2022. African Development Bank and Council of Europe Development Bank were also in the market with a $10 million 10-year note and a $100 million nine-year note respectively. Council of Europe Development Bank did its fixed rate note via CSFB and it pays an annual coupon of 6.125% and is swapped into 3m Euribor. The trade is a reopening of a $750 million 10-year note issued on January 25 2001. It is the fourth reopening of the fungible trade, which now totals $1.35 billion. Volkswagen International Financeissued again - its 16th time in the market this year, and its third note in US dollar. It closed a $50 million two-year note. Northern Rock issued a $100 million note, also going out two years. And Union Bank of Norway did a $50 million three-year trade via Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. The note pays a floating rate coupon linked to 3m $Libor +10 basis points.

Globals * Asian Development Bank

There was little at the short end, as most US dollar trades were in the one-year-and-over sector. NIB Capital Bank issued a $1.14 million one-year note due on February 7 and Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp did two trades: a 16-month $20 million note and a $10 million 18-month trade. Barclays Capital led a $65 million two-year note for Bank of Scotland Treasury Services and a $250 million three-year note for Instituto de Credito Oficial. The latter is an increase of a $250 million deal led by BNP Paribas issued on February 1 this year. It pays a floating rate of 3m $Libor -12.5 basis points. Morgan Stanley led a $20 million four-year step-up note for KfW International Finance. It is callable after six months and semi-annually thereafter. The coupon is fixed at 3.60% in the first year. It then steps up to 4.5% in the second year, 5.75% in the third year and 6.75% in the final year. Morgan Stanley also managed a step-up range accrual for Rabobank Nederland. The $10 million seven-year note pays 6m $Libor in the first year. Thereafter the coupon is fixed although it steps up annually and is subject to a range of the 6m $Libor rate, which also steps up after year four. Rabobank Nederland issued another $10 million eight-year range accrual trade via Salomon Smith Barney. The fixed coupon is 9.25% and is paid semi-annually throughout, although after the first year the coupon is subject to a range of the 6m $Libor rate. Landesbank Sachsen did a $3 million five-year trade via Deutsche Bank. The plain vanilla trade pays a fixed coupon of 4.925%.

Tenors in US dollar went out to 10 years but were mostly at the short end. Rabobank Nederland closed a $10 million 10-year note led by Rabobank International. The trade is non-call-two with a European call. The first two years pay a floating rate coupon at 6m $Libor and if the note is not called it becomes fixed rate. The issuer was also in the seven-year sector with a $10 million range accrual trade led by Morgan Stanley, callable semi-annually throughout. The first year the coupon is the 6m $Libor plus a spread and after the coupon is fixed rate, stepping up by 50 basis points each year and linked to a range, which itself steps up after the fourth year. Sigma Finance was also in the seven-year sector with a $7 million note. Hamburgische LB Finance (Guernsey) issued a $10 million five-year note via Merrill Lynch. This is also a range accrual, callable after the first year and semi-annually thereafter. The interest is calculated at 6m $Libor flat plus a fixed rate of 3.12% multiplied by the number of days in which 6m $Libor falls within a certain range. In the three-year sector K2 Corporation closed a $5 million note via Merrill Lynch. The trade is a zero coupon with redemption linked to the Nasdaq100.

New issue activity in the US bond market petered out this week as the "Enron effect" caused spreads to gap out 10bp across the board and as much as 100bp for some credits. Any credit investors imagine could have even a whiff of an accounting issue to deal with are being quickly dumped by investors. This week spreads on Tyco International, PNC Financial and Williams Companies widened sharply, while banks that might have exposure to risky credits were hit.

Vivendi Universal's Eu2.5bn multi-currency revolving refinancing facility was launched into the market this week to a less than rapturous welcome. Banks have been offered one ticket at this stage - a Eu150m take-and-hold paying participation fees of 25bp flat for arranger status.

Do you feel just slightly sorry for the UBS Warburg salesmen and credit researchers who were binned by the bank just because they tapped into Morgan Stanley's research website? There may be some sympathy in the City, but out in the shires where men are men and the sheep walk nervously, the locals are probably saying,: "These Euro fat cats made their own bed and now they can lie in it." We don't take sides on these occasions and we don't know the senior members of the "Gang of Four", Nick Tudball and Derek Braun - is he any relation to Alex Braun, who used to do clever things at Abbey National and was very popular with the ladies, or is he a brawn-like indigestible meat?

The corporate euro market will be dominated by utilities in the coming days, with the release today (Friday) of official price talk if not launch of a Eu1bn-plus issue for Suez and a deal of around Eu500m for Union Electrica-Fenosa, while EnBW will next week begin roadshows for a transaction of at least Eu1bn. Suez is set to achieve a level flat to its curve, despite the large size of its issue, with investors reportedly showing strong demand for the deal, which will be led by Citigroup/SSSB, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

Vodafone announced this week that Arcor, its German fixed line subsidiary, has sold its railway-specific telecoms operations to Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned rail operator. As part of the deal, Deutsche Bahn has relinquished its veto rights over the company - potentially paving the way for Vodafone to float Arcor.