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France Mandated arrangers BNP Paribas, Mediobanca and SG (sole bookrunner) are closing senior syndication of the Eu2.8bn loan facility to support the demerger of agro-industrial company Eridania Béghin-Say.

So who harpooned Allen "Weetabix" Wheat, the chairman and chief executive of CSFB? According to an inconsolable passing Japanese tourist Wheaty was speared with a three-pronged trident fork, brushed lightly with New Zealand butter and turned into toast in front of a blazing fire. No wonder that the tabloid press is bidding furiously for the tourist's film (which is probably on its way back home to Yokohama). Last week we said in these columns that Weetabix, who is actually funnier than he pretends to be, never heard the shot which blew him away. He had lived through so many crises that he must have thought he was a cat with 90 lives. "When it came to extricating himself from seemingly impossible positions, Allen could have taught Houdini a few tricks," said a former CSFB managing director.

Argentina Bankers say that the $220m four year FRN for Perez Companc, arranged by Deutsche Bank, has been signed, with an 11 strong syndicate. Funding is due to take place today (Friday).

BSCH (facility agent), Barclays Capital (joint bookrunner), Deutsche Bank (joint bookrunner), IntesaBci and SG are set to close senior syndication on the Eu2.39bn term loan for Amena. The loan is Eu1bn oversubscribed. This oversubscription is seen as a vote of approval for both the company's sponsors and the structure of the deal, which is the first of the four 3G rollout facilities in the market to close. Banks are also considering a Eu5.5bn facility for Wind, a Eu1.2bn facility for Swedish telco Tele2 and a Eu1bn facility for Connect Austria/One.

Barclays Capital has named Guido Pescione as head of investment baking for Italy. He reports to Cyrus Ardalan, a vice chairman of Barclays Capital.

HSBC has lost four Asian equity salespeople to Nomura International in London.

Egypt Apicorp is arranging a $105m loan facility for Egyptian Natural Gas Company to support the construction of a natural gas to liquids project at Port Said. The project is being developed by Egyptian Natural Gas Company, Agip and BP. More details are expected soon.

Artesia Overseas has axed Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Nomura and Swedbank as dealers off its $4 billion debt issuance programme. Deutsche Bank and Barclays Capital have been added to the dealer panel. Bawag has increased the limit off its debt issuance programme from euro3 billion ($2.56 billion) to euro5 billion. It has dropped ABN Amro and Morgan Stanley as dealers and replaced them with Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Nomura. BNP Paribas has dropped BNP Pacific (Australia) as an issuer from its self-arranged euro20 billion ($17.09 billion) programme for the issuance of debt instruments. John Hancock Global Funding II has upped the limit off its global MTN programme from $5 billion to $7.5 billion. It has added Bank of America, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as dealers. Marks & Spencer Finance has dropped Marks & Spencer Finance/Nederland as an issuer off its Euro-MTN programme. The programme has also been upped from £

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank has concluded a ¥1 billion (8.02 million) note on July 30. The note, which pays interest semi-annually and has a final coupon of 3.000%, reaches out to July 30 2031. The issuer has traded $2.86 billion off its euro10 billion ($8.78 million) debt issuance programme so far this year. Tom Meuwissen, head of treasury at Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, spoke to MTNWeek in May. He said: "We hope to raise between euro3 billion and euro4 billion this year."

Dollar swap spreads gradually ground down to tighter levels this week, leaving the five year mid-market at about 82bp and the 10 year mid market at 82.5bp by yesterday afternoon (Thursday). Prices were about 5bp wider a week ago. Two year swap spreads came in to a mid market of about 55bp, while 30 year swap spreads closed the week at about 75bp. New issue pressure has been partly, and perhaps chiefly, responsible for the contraction in spreads. At the same time, the underlying market rallied strongly this week after Alan Greenspan indicated that the Fed is quite prepared to lower interest rates again should the US economy continue to manifest signs of weakness. The market had been expecting a more ambiguous statement, and Treasuries moved higher across the curve.

Estonia The Republic of Estonia has shortlisted Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan to lead manage its planned Eu100m five year bond. The Estonian parliament approved the plans for the Eurobond on June 6. The issue will refinance loans taken out in the early 1990s to finance the purchase of a long distance radar system. The finance ministry is expected to mandate the deal next week, although the transaction will not be launched before September.

Germany Infineon, the semiconductors manufacturer, exercised the greenshoe on Wednesday for its Eu1.5bn secondary offering. The total number of new shares issued, including the main deal which was priced last Friday, totals 60m, the maximum that Infineon had said it would issue. Goldman Sachs led the deal.