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The board of Charter European Trust on Monday emphatically rejected Henderson Global Investors' proposal to break up Charter's trust and in response came up with a proposal of its own. As opposed to Henderson's proposal of a 75% cash exit for investors while rolling the remaining assets into the Henderson EuroTrust, Charter European's counter offer gives shareholders the opportunity of a 100% cash exit and a choice to roll over into a pan-European investment trust managed by Dresdner RCM.

UK-based food and beverages company Diageo this week announced that it is selling off its US subsidiary Burger King through a leveraged buy-out that will raise around £1.6bn. Diageo has discussed spinning off its US subsidiary since June 2001 and but has up to now been undecided on whether to divest Burger King through an IPO or an LBO.

* Council of Europe Development Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Transactions increased: * General Electric Capital Corp

* DePfa Bank Europe plc Guarantor: keepwell agreement from DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG

DePfa and HVB Real Estate won the respect of the Pfandbrief market when they successfully navigated a tricky market and each other's five year issues this week to price the first jumbos off their new strategic programmes to a welcoming international audience. HVB executed its Eu2bn deal, led by Barclays Capital, Deutsche and HypoVereinsbank, at 9bp over mid-swaps on Tuesday, after DePfa had priced its Eu3bn jumbo, led by Citigroup/SSSB, Dresdner Kleiwort Wasserstein and Goldman Sachs, last Friday (February 1) at 7bp over.

Dollar swap spreads moved slightly wider this week as the financial markets became pre-occupied with equity losses and the possibility of dubious accounting practices concealing another Enron. By the end of the week, the five year swap market was 67.75bp over Treasuries, and the 10 year midmarket was at 76bp over the new 4.875% February 2012 Treasury. The roll into the new note was 2.5bp-3bp, so spreads to the old note are only 73bp - no more than 1.5bp wider than at the end of last week.

German utility Energie Baden-Wurttemberg (EnBW) is due to issue its benchmark debut trade off its euro3 billion ($2.60 billion) Euro-MTN programme, which was signed last week. The Eurobond will be issued after the roadshow, which will finish on Wednesday, February 13. Ingo Voigt is EnBW's head of capital markets and is currently on the investor roadshow in Europe. He told MTNWeek when the programme was signed that the benchmark transaction will be joint-lead managed by Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank. The deal will be denominated in euro and will be used to fund EnBW's acquisition of NWS, another German utility. Reuters, the international news agency, reported on February 6 that the deal will have a tenor between five and 10 years. The Euro-MTN programme is rated A+ by Standard & Poor's and A2 by Moody's.