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Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and BNP Paribas offered some hope to the markets this week by showing that investors were prepared to take some risk in small capitalisation stocks. BNP Paribas completed a Eu20m accelerated bookbuild in Genesis Conferencing, the French teleconferencing company. The sale, representing 10% of Genesis's market capitalisation, was priced at Eu14.70 to offer a 7.3% discount to the last trade and a 12% discount to the previous day's close.

The Republic of Italy has this week taken steps to promote liquidity in its dollar global securities by setting up a dealer programme and inaugurating the programme with a $3bn five year global bond. The republic has appointed a core dealer group of 10 banks that are committed to trade Italy's global bonds from their agency trading desks and to use their best efforts to have the bonds eligible to trade on TradeWeb. In addition, bookrunners of specific deals have committed to trade the relevant bond on a maximum 1bp bid/offer spread on ticket sizes of up to $25m.

The Italian treasury this week mandated Banca IMI, Deutsche Bank, IntesaBci and Lehman Brothers to lead manage a Eu2bn-Eu3bn securitisation of residential property owned by Italian state entities, including INPS and INAIL. The transaction will be the first under a government programme to dispose of real estate with an estimated book value of between Eu15bn and Eu30bn.

Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) has completed its strategic issuance for the year with a three year euro benchmark that came inside all but three of the European sovereigns, effectively legitimising its claims to be treated as a government credit. The Eu5bn deal, through bookrunners Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, "seems," one syndicate official said, "to have been the right deal for the market."

Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) has completed its strategic issuance for the year with a three year euro benchmark that came inside all but three of the European sovereigns, effectively legitimising its claims to be treated as a government credit. The Eu5bn deal, through bookrunners Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, "seems," one syndicate official said, "to have been the right deal for the market."

Morgan Stanley's credit derivatives team took part in an evacuation drill at one of the firm's London offices late Wednesday to test preparedness in the event of an anthrax attack. The firm evacuated its offices at 20 Cabot Square in London's Canary Wharf, according to a derivatives official involved in the drill. Euart Glendinning, a spokesman at Morgan Stanley in London, did not return calls.

Banca Popolare di Spoleto, the regional bank majority owned by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, this week launched its first securitisation - a Eu271m semi-synthetic collateralised debt obligation backed by investment grade bonds and credit default swaps. Lead managed by Credit Suisse First Boston and MPS Finance, the deal sheds the risk of 37 corporate bonds from BPS' balance sheet. To diversify this pool, exposure to 31 US and European investment grade names is added through credit default swaps, totaling Eu155m, between CSFB and Anthea.

The Greek government last Friday launched its third securitisation - a Eu2bn deal backed by payments from the European Commission under the third Community Support Framework (CSF III). Jointly lead managed by BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, EFG Eurobank and NBG International, the transaction puts securitisation in Greece back on the agenda after almost a year since the last deal emerged from the country.

Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (WestLB) yesterday (Thursday) closed a $200m future flow securitisation for Akbank, the second largest private bank in Turkey. Akbank has completed a number of securitisations previously but in the volatile market conditions at present this deal surprised many.

Irish bank First Active this week launched its seventh mortgage securitisation from its Celtic programme, but the issuer does not expect to do another deal for around two years. Lead managed by BNP Paribas and RBS Financial Markets (RBS), the Eu650m deal is the largest Celtic transaction yet and the first to include a proportion of refinanced mortgages in its portfolio.

Fortis Bank Nederland is preparing a Eu1.3bn synthetic collateralised bond obligation backed by loans to the Dutch public healthcare sector. Lead managed by Bear Stearns and Fortis Bank, the deal is unusual. Because it is backed entirely by loans to just one industry sector it is difficult to compare it to other synthetic CLOs, while other healthcare deals have usually used a whole business structure.