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France Télécom (FT) has come back to the table and made a further offer to the Polish treasury to increase its stake in Telecomunikacja Polska (TPSA) having turned down the opportunity to increase its stake by 10% last week. No details as to the size or price of the offer are available. The Polish treasury is keen to pursue its Z4.3bn sale of 30% of TPSA despite FT's refusal last week to take a further 10% share in the company for Z40, a 250% premium to the market price at that time.

Concern over the negative effects of grey market prices on IPOs has brought the discussion over grey market trading reform to the fore this week. Banks and politicians have teamed up in Germany to draw up with protective measures to fight the volatility that has damaged so many new issues on the German exchanges over the past 18 months. Proponents of reform have expressed fears of manipulation of prices quoted and concern over the lack of transparency on the grey markets.

Argentine bond spreads tightened more than 100bp this week on news that the IMF will again bail out the country as it struggles not to default. Nine months after leading a $40bn emergency aid package, the IMF has agreed to hold talks with Argentine officials today (Friday) and over the weekend about providing another $6bn-$9bn.

After taking a backseat, the telecoms sector took centre stage this week amid talk of a jumbo fundraising exercise later this year for France Télécom (FT), which needs to refinance Eu5.1bn equivalent of outstanding debt due for redemption in October. The French telco declined to comment on the possibility of a jumbo bond, although analysts are predicting a Eu3bn-Eu5bn short dated floating rate offering.

ING Bank signed a euro10 billion ($8.80 million) Euro-CP and Euro-CD programme on Friday, August 3. The programme replaces the bank's euro5 billion Euro-CD programme. The issuer did not previously have a CP facility and raised all its one-year-and-under funding off its Euro-CD shelf. Geert Wijnhoven, director at ING Barings/BBL's Euro-CP and funding desk, says that the programme with the added CP capability was signed in order to keep in step with the changing market. He says: "The market has changed dramatically in the last few years. The old programme worked fine, but the ECP and ECD programme is diversified, so we decided to set up a programme that meets investor needs. Now we can issue coupon-bearing, zero-coupon and index-linked notes. We also increased the amount, so we will be less dependent on inter-bank loans. However we don't intend to increase our issuance right away." He adds that same-day clearance in the Euro-CP market and Dutch domestic market means that more investors than before can be reached with the CP shelf. He says: "Same-day clearing between Euroclear and the Dutch clearing agencies means that Dutch issuers can increase their investor base and with the advent of the euro, the ECP and domestic markets are converging more towards each other." ING Barings is the arranger and ING Barings/BBL is the sole dealer. But Wijnhoven is confident that it will be able to cover a wide enough investor base with just itself as a dealer. He says: "We are capable of distributing our own debt in Europe, Asia and the Netherlands, as we have a dedicated Euro-CP desk."

The SPV market has rocketed in the past five years and now has a 14% share of the MTN private-placement market. Investors are feeling more comfortable than ever with the product and many top banks are stepping up their focus on the sector. Issuance in the financial repackaged market was just over $1.6 billion in the first half of 1995, which made up 4% of the private-placement market. The total debt raised through SPVs in the first half of 2001 was almost $20 billion. Investors realize that SPVs offer more flexibility than traditional MTNs. According to Alex Haidas, global credit derivatives at Deutsche Bank, they have three main advantages for the investor. He says: "They offer the credit risk that the investor asks for; they offer a tailored, structured solution with an enhanced yield; and they can be issued in any jurisdiction that the investor chooses." But banks have had to work hard to raise awareness of the product in the investor community and allay unfounded suspicions about the credit-worthiness of the product. Goldman Sachs has leapt from seventh place in terms of number of trades executed off SPV programmes in 2000 to second position in the first half of 2001. Patrick Street, at the bank's financial repackaged group, says: "There was a learning curve. The market had to educate investors as to the simplicity of the product and the additional investment opportunities that as a result can be offered in a standard note format." And Stephanie Sfakianos, Euro-MTN and CP marketing at Deutsche Bank, explains the product: "The word repackaged says it all really - you are taking a product that doesn't meet your investor's criteria, and repackaging it into a saleable form that is precisely what the investor wants." Over 40% of SPV issuance in the first half of 2001 was in yen and Japanese investors have played an instrumental role in driving the financial repackaged market forward. Dealers agree that much of the yen issuance is due to the stripping of convertible bonds. JPMorgan hired Desiree Fixler for its financial repackaged desk three weeks ago as part of its increased focus on the market. Fixler says: "There is almost no corporate bond issuance in Japan as most new issues are in the convertible bond market. A significant portion of the repackaged yen issuance, accordingly, is the stripped-convertible bond business." Investors with currency and structure restrictions have driven the market in the past, and the market has grown alongside the credit derivatives market. The race is now on as SPVs become an important business and banks are rushing to integrate their financial repackaged groups with other fixed income products. Deutsche Bank is leading the way and has done so for several years, although CSFB, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch are serious market contenders. But Deutsche Bank can by no means feel complacent. Haidas, at Deutsche Bank, says: "Our competition understands the business plan, but never really treated it as a proper business. Goldman Sachs has been catching up a lot this year. When Deutsche Bank started out five years ago JPMorgan was a big player in the market." JPMorgan is also making a bid for pole position in the market. It is concentrating its efforts on building up its financial repackaged group. Fixler, at JPMorgan, says: "As one of the strategic businesses at JPMorgan, we are focusing on this product with a view to establishing more flexible programmes and improved repackaging capabilities." And the bank expects the financial repackaged desk to work in tandem with the MTN trading desk. Fixler says: "MTN trading desks and repackaging desks have traditionally been separate businesses. We hope to take a holistic approach to bridge that gap and provide optimal issuer and investor services." And Street, at Goldman Sachs, is confident that Goldman Sachs is also well placed in the market. He says: "Our volumes continue to grow at a significant pace - we have already surpassed last year's totals both in terms of volume and number of transactions. SPVs are core to our credit derivatives business. They enable a much wider investor base to access and benefit from relative value opportunities available in the credit markets." So with banks turning their attention to this sector, volumes in the SPV market can only grow. Haidas, at Deutsche Bank, says: "For the future we expect continued growth. In the past growth has been exponential, but this will now level off. We will gain more investor acceptance though." And Sfakianos, also at Deutsche Bank, corroborates this view. She says: "Acceptance of SPVs will increase in the Euro-MTN market if experience in the US ABCP market is anything to go by. The comfort factor that investors will have with SPV trades in the longer maturities could also grow exponentially." This could mean that investors are more attracted to the structured product tailored to their needs, rather than buy a traditional issuer's paper and meet the issuer's levels. But Haidas, at Deutsche Bank, doesn't believe that SPVs will reduce issuance from other MTN issuers. He says: "It is creating more demand for secondary paper and more liquidity in the market. There is a little bit of cannibalization between SPV issues and MTNs, but both markets are growing at a healthy pace."

Former Chase Manhattan bankers Scott Davidson and Andrew Dym have stepped up to co-head North American asset backed securities (ABS) and conduits at JP Morgan. Since the JP Morgan Chase merger, the pair have worked on JP Morgan's ABS team in New York. Davidson directed structured credit activities for corporate and financial clients, while Dym led ABS in auto and equipment related sectors.

Argentina The syndicate has been released for the $220m oil contingent loan-style FRN being arranged by Deutsche Bank for Pecom Energia.

Australian issuer Macquarie Bank hosted a dinner for its dealers at The Capital in London recently. And in typical Ozzie style they got sport involved with English cricketer Ian Botham as guest of honour. HSBC's Fergus Kiely and Annemarie Ganatra were there in full swing and Fergus thought he was in for a good innings when he was given Botham's bat. But he found himself caught behind (the bar) too often and now he's stumped as to how he got home. Citibank's CP salesman, Giles Chapman, is another fan of Australian sport - he likes it so much he was prepared to follow the Lions rugby tour down under for three weeks. But it was lucky for him he was out of the office. All the fuss about the Citigroup buildings down at Canary Wharf and the glass walkways connecting the upper floors has been justified, as a sheet of glass fell from one of the floors and smashed on the foyer No one was hurt. Merrill Lynch's Anthony Everill and Dean the dog Fogg will be saying goodbye next weekend to their offices. Merrill is moving down to the (air conditioned) building by St Paul's cathedral, and by all accounts they will be leaving some rats behind. Apparently their old building was infested. The cheeky chappies at SNS Bank have been keeping dealers amused again. As if a vintage car driving trip in Holland wasn't enough, followed by the strangest looking chocolates Leak has ever seen, SNS's latest trick is a video of the antics from the vintage car party. Quite a few dealers were cringing to see themselves on camera... censors have had to stick an "X" on the video. It's all go on the HSBC desk. They've been so busy this year that Fergus, Annemarie and Evie are getting two new colleagues. Dirk Hoffman is joining them from HSBC's Dusseldorf office and in September Ammaury Gosse is joining the trading desk from HSBC's Paris office. Unfortunately his name is so similar to Annemarie's, there is bound to be confusion on the desk. Congratulations to Lehman Brothers's money markets salesman, Alex Timmis, who had a farewell drink at the Roof Gardens bar in London last night. But he isn't leaving the market - he's just getting married. The nicest man in sales was joined by Morgan Stanley's Richard Tynan, UBS Warburg's Sam Cowan as well as Lehmans's MTN trader Brian McCarthy and CP man John Ford.

The Lebanese Republic has added Schroder Salomon Smith Barney as a dealer off its $6 billion global MTN programme. The programme is rated B2 by Moody's and has almost $5 billion outstanding off 12 trades.

Mexico this week illustrated the distance it has placed between itself and major Latin American peers when it launched a $1.5bn 30 year benchmark global bond that was increased from $1bn after attracting $3bn of orders.