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* Woori Finance Holding Co Ltd Amount: $150m

Vattenfall has raised the debt ceiling off its Euro-MTN programme to $6 billion from $4 billion. Commerzbank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and SEB Merchant Banking have been added as dealers, while JPMorgan has been dropped from the dealer panel.

CVC Capital Partners is seething after losing out to trade buyer Norsk Hydro in its bid to acquire VAW Aluminium AG from E.ON. CVC's bid, thought to be in the region of Eu2.3bn, was supported by a debt package of about Eu2bn from CIBC, CSFB, Deutsche Bank, Lehman and UBS Warburg.

The round of rate cuts in the US, Europe and the UK this week provided markets with a much needed boost, sending government bonds in all three regions lower and encouraging issuers to revive borrowing plans to lock into the low rates available. The Eurodollar market was dominated by a $1bn five year inaugural dollar bond from CDC IXIS and the success of the issue is expected to prompt further highly rated issuance.

Austria Mandated arrangers Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, JP Morgan and WestLB have signed the Eu690m reduced credit for Connect Austria. The deal was cut from Eu1bn.

Wolters Kluwer, the Dutch publisher, took advantage of a lack of good at-the-money exposure in the market when it completed its tightly priced Eu700m convertible issue on Tuesday. As was evident from Pinault Printemps-Redoute's Eu1.4bn issue last week investors are desperate for new issues with good credit ratings and a delta of around 40-50. "Hedge funds are very short of opportunities," said Adrian Hope, head of equity-linked research at Jefferies International.

Woolworths Group plc this week priced its £100m senior notes issue tighter than expected, paying a coupon of 8.75% rather than the 9.00%-9.25% originally projected. The UK general retailer is effectively a cross-over credit. Its five year senior notes rank pari passu with its bank debt, which Moody's rates at the lowest investment grade of Baa3, and while there is no rating from Standard & Poor's, the notes have been priced in the double-B speculative grade range.

The forty trades announced yesterday in yen were issued by 12 different nationalities. Although the Japanese issued the most and the biggest notes, the Swedes were involved, as were the Canadians and the Danish. Sumitomo Chemical (UK) did a ¥10 billion ($82.23 million) note that matures in October next year. It has a fixed coupon of 0.12%. Mitsui & Co (USA) announced a ¥3 billion and a ¥1 billion trade. The first goes out to November 2002, the3 second to May 2014. And Hitachi International (Holland) did a ¥2.5 billion 6-year note that pays 0.65%. DaimlerChrysler Coordination Centre, World Bank, KfW International Finance, Kommunalbanken and SEK all issued notes via Salomon Smith Barney. None of them was for more than ¥1.1 billion however, but they did vary in tenor from one month to 30 years. Eksportfinans announced a ¥500 million 20-year note. It is a Bermuda callable, in annual intervals, and has a power reverse dual currency structure. Kommunekredit also did a ¥500 million 20-year note, and Salomon Smith Barney was the bookrunner. It has a fixed coupon of 3% for the first year, when it then becomes callable and a PRDC. Kommuninvest I Sverige went for a ¥220 million trade via Tsubasa. It has a similar structure to Kommunekredit's note: a fixed coupon of 4.5% for the first year, when it then becomes callable and a PRDC. Province of Manitoba has issued two notes this month, both in yen, after a break from the market of over a year. The latest is a ¥1 billion 15-year trade that pays a fixed coupon of 2.03%. And the Republic of Austria did a ¥3 billion 30-year trade. It pays 4%.

Yen is up to the level of trading that it was two months ago. The daily average for the last few days has been about 40 trades, though this is still concentrated in the high-grade credits, and sizes average around ¥1 billion ($8.22 million). A few new names were about yesterday too. Republic of Austria has come to the yen market for the fourth time in two weeks and fourth time this year, with a ¥1 billion 15-year note. And BAWAG, the only other Austrian issuer announcing a deal, came back to yen after a few trades in euro and US dollar. Its ¥500 million note goes out to November 2016 and pays a fixed coupon of 3%. Investor made its 2001 debut in yen with a ¥500 million four-year trade. It is the issuer's third note of the year, the other two being denominated in euro. And Islandsbanki-FBA announced its 21st deal of the year with a ¥500 million two-year trade. Its fixed coupon is 0.01%. Oresundsbro Konsortiet, the Swedish triple-A public corporate, did its first trade of 2001 yesterday too. It was a ¥1 billion 10-year deal.

Ten trades were closed in other currencies on Monday. European Investment Bank was responsible for the largest trade. It issued a Z200 million ($48.56 million) three-year note that was issued at a price of 99.875%. The note was led by Toronto-Dominion Bank and will be offered to the market on November 19 2001. Rabobank Nederland saw opportunities in South African rand and added R100 million ($10.68 million) to its existing R100 million ten-year bond that was issued in August. The note was joint-led by Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Rabobank. The trade is non-callable and pays a fixed coupon of 10%. An official at Rabobank says: "There was demand for that issue, primarily in Europe, with investors looking for high-yield." Bank of Scotland Treasury Services went out five years with its HK$80 million ($10.26 million) note. The trade pays interest monthly and will be issued on November 13 2001. NIB Capital Bank also went out five years with its Skr29 million ($2.75 million) issue. The note pays interest annually and will hit the market on November 7 2001. Reuters issued the day's only Swiss franc trade: a Sfr25 million ($15.34 million) two-year note that pays interest monthly. And BNP Paribas issued the day's only Singapore dollar trade: a £

Fifteen trades were closed in other currencies on Tuesday. And it was Singapore dollar and Hong Kong dollar that saw the most activity: five trades were closed in each of the currencies. Swedish krona appeared in two trades: Ford Credit Canada was responsible for both. The largest was a Skr700 million ($66.30 million) three-year trade that pays a final coupon of 5.9%. The other three-year trade was a Skr166 million FRN. Export Finance and Insurance Corp saw opportunities in Australian dollar and issued a A$70 million ($35.52 million) four-year note that was led by Salomon Smith Barney. The dealer also led a C$15 million two-year note off Salomon Smith Barney Holdings's $11.71 billion Euro-MTN programme. Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz issued the day's only Norwegian krone trade. It went out six years with its Nkr400 million ($45.33 million) note that was led Deutsche Bank. The note was issued at a price of 99.165% and pays a final coupon of 5.5%. The largest Hong Kong dollar trades came from Deutsche Apotheker-und Aerztebank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Deutsche Apotheker-und Aerztebank's HK$250 million ($32.05 million) three-year FRN will be issued on November 15 2001. Commonwealth Bank of Australia's HK$250 million four-year trade pays interest semi-annually and offers a final coupon of 3.98%. HSBC (Netherlands) was extremely active in Singapore dollar. It closed four of the day's five trades. All of the notes were valued at S$10 million ($5.48 million) and go out one-month.

Following one failed attempt to raise funds through an international public bond issue in the dollar market, Pacific Century CyberWorks (PCCW) subsidiary PCCW-HKT Telephone successfully returned to the market on Wednesday with an inaugural $750m 10 year bond issue. The 144a Reg S issue was rapidly launched without a fanfare by financial unit PCCW-HKT Capital and guaranteed by PCCW-HKT. The speed and interest in the issue is in stark contrast to the aborted attempt to launch the telecoms company's $2.5bn jumbo dollar issue in July.