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GUS, the UK retail and business group, confirmed this week that it is planning to float its luxury goods unit Burberry by the end of June. GUS announced in November 2000 that its plan was to float up to 25% of the company within 18 months. "Officially, the line is still that the deal is subject to market conditions, but in reality it is pretty certain to go ahead," said an official close to the company.

Qatar Syndication of the $572.25m 18 year project financing for the Ras Laffan Power and Water Desalination project is already oversubscribed, despite a number of banks that are still to respond.

Moody’s this week gave its clearest indication yet how Landesbanks will be rated once they are stripped of their state support mechanisms, by assigning a A3 rating to a groundbreaking tier one issue that Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein (LB Kiel) will soon launch via Lehman Brothers — a rating higher than most analysts had been predicting.

UK mobile phone operator mmO2's £1bn equivalent dual currency transaction this week confounded the sceptics who had doubted that such a sizeable issue was feasible for a weak triple-B telco. Certainly the success of the deal, lead managed by Citigroup/SSSB, Deutsche Bank and HSBC, was not obvious. Only two divisions of mmO2 - its Irish and UK businesses - are profitable, while its German and Netherlands businesses have yet to prove themselves. And while the company was demerged from BT plc with fairly modest debt of £500m, that figure is expected to rise in coming years as mmO2 rolls out its 3G network. The company's ratings are also on the cusp of investment grade at Baa2/BBB-.

Moody’s this week gave its clearest indication yet how Landesbanks will be rated once they are stripped of their state support mechanisms, by assigning a A3 rating to a groundbreaking tier one issue that Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein (LB Kiel) will soon launch via Lehman Brothers — a rating higher than most analysts had been predicting.

* ING Barings has hired Mark Bronder as director and head of Netherlands Securitisation. He replaces Kornelis Lammerts who moved to ABN Amro last year. Bronder joins from SG where he was responsible for its Netherlands securitisation business. He reports to Robert Plehn, head of European securitisation at ING in London.

We have received a flurry of telephone calls from Barclays, deep in the heart of the Dead Canary where the sun rarely shines and muggers lurk on every corner. We are pleased to report that during the whole of 2001 we never visited Canary Wharf once, and that the same resolution is high on our list of priorities for 2002. Our story about BarCap's CEO, Bob Diamond, and his £10m bonus, has certainly caught the eye of opportunistic ladies across the land. Many of our calls were from doe-eyed lovelies who wanted to become members of Mr Diamond's fan club, known as Bob's Babes. Calm down, girls. All you have to do is call Bob's charming assistant, Jane, and ask for an application form or how to access the fan club website. However, don't delay as membership might be restricted due to overwhelming demand.

2001 was a demanding year for the ratings agencies, with Argentina, Turkey and Russia requiring difficult judgments in the spotlight of market attention. It was also the year Moody's revised its position on sovereign ceiling constraints. EuroWeek asked Vincent Truglia, co-head of Moody's sovereign ratings group, how the agency tackled these tricky credits, and what the main concerns for 2002 are.

France The French milk co-operative Sodiaal and Paribas Affaires Industrielles (PAI), the French private equity company, have launched a partnership plan that aims to build on the global presence of Yoplait. Through this partnership, Sodiaal and PAI intend to reinforce Yoplait's position as the number two global player in the yogurt and fresh dairy products market and prepare the company for an eventual flotation on the capital markets.

* Standard & Poor's (S&P) sovereign group has changed its procedures for foreign currency ratings in the 10 first wave EU applicants, where it believes prospective Emu membership has reduced currency convertibility risk, allowing private sector corporates to be rated above the sovereign for foreign currency up to a limit of A+. "I do not foresee a big wave of corporate upgrades resulting from this decision," said Moritz Kraemer, director for western Europe in S&P's sovereign group. "But this is now an issue for the corporate and banking groups. They could already rate corporates higher than their respective sovereigns for local currency."

* ABN Amro Bank NV Rating: Aa2/AAA

The highest rated unwrapped project credit to be syndicated outside North America, the UK and Australia will be launched to the market next week. The $1.364bn of loan facilities for Oman LNG LLC are rated A3 and A- by Moody's and Standard & Poor's, respectively. The debt is split between a $1.3bn term loan and a $64m revolving LC facility. Both tranches have maturities of 16-1/2 years and an average life of 14 years.