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Zurich Financial Services officially launched this week the long awaited IPO of Converium, its reinsurance unit. The deal followed the resounding success last week of Swiss Re's $3.3bn fundraising exercise. But it is clear that Converium will not be such an easy sell.

Prudential, the UK insurance company, is to launch a £

Repsol-YPF will today (Friday) launch a minimum Eu1bn two tranche transaction, testing investor appetite for the oil and gas company, which is struggling to reduce its debt burden against a background of declining oil prices. The deal will be structured as a minimum Eu500m 18 month floating rate note paying Euribor plus 100bp, and a minimum five year fixed rate bond priced at mid-swaps plus 140bp. The lead managers are BBVA, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Invercaixa and Merrill Lynch.

Sibneft hopes to issue its $150m-$250m three year bond next week, perhaps as early as Monday according to some bankers. "We are full steam ahead," said an official at Sibneft. "We hope to get the deal off next week. We would have liked to have done it this week were it not for some of our potential buyers having to wait until after Thanksgiving to get the all clear from their New York offices."

Soitec, the French semiconductor wafer manufacturer, joined the trend of issuers taking advantage of investor demand in the convertibles market to raise opportunistic financing this week. The £115m deal, which will finance organic growth, was sold by Morgan Stanley on Tuesday morning.

Market report Compiled by Richard Favis, RBC Capital Markets, Johannesburg

A £250m transaction from Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEDP), an operating subsidiary of Scottish & Southern Energy, highlighted yesterday (Thursday) the strength of the long end of the sterling market and the desperate search for product by the UK investor base. The company conducted a three day roadshow this week with bookrunners Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS Warburg, expecting to launch an issue next week, but, as Gregor Alexander, treasurer of the Scottish & Southern Energy group, told EuroWeek, demand for the bond was so high that the launch process was accelerated.

A £250m transaction from Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEDP), an operating subsidiary of Scottish & Southern Energy, highlighted yesterday (Thursday) the strength of the long end of the sterling market and the desperate search for product by the UK investor base. The company conducted a three day roadshow this week with bookrunners Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS Warburg, expecting to launch an issue next week, but, as Gregor Alexander, treasurer of the Scottish & Southern Energy group, told EuroWeek, demand for the bond was so high that the launch process was accelerated.

Barclays Bank (Miami) has completed a $150m one year USCP back-up facility for CABEI. The risk participation fee is 45bp and upfront fees are 20bp for $20m, 15bp for $10m-$19m and 10bp for $3m-$9m.

After a comprehensive pan-European roadshow, TPG NV, the Dutch post, express and logistics company, this week made a glowing debut in the euro market with a Eu1bn, seven year issue. Joint bookrunners ABN Amro, ING Barings BBL and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney were able to build an impressive Eu4bn book, the majority of it in the Netherlands and Germany.

Treasury Corporation of Victoria (TCV) has signed an A$2 billion ($1.04 billion) multi-currency Euro-CP programme. The Government of Victoria is the guarantor for the shelf. TCV already has a $500 million Euro-CP programme that currently has $384.96 million outstanding off 11 trades. The issuer is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA+ by Standard & Poor's. The dealers are BA Asia, Citibank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Asia and Royal Bank of Canada.

Turkey has stormed back to the dollar market, with a $500m Eurobond issued on Monday via Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney, its first dollar issue in over 14 months.