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There has been much speculation about the likely fate of the proceeds of the jumbo WorldCom issue for several weeks, but at the end of this week the consensus was that large portions, if not all, of the dollar segments had been swapped to floating rate. The borrower declined to comment on the transaction, as did joint lead JP Morgan, but enough evidence of hefty swap business had been provided by yesterday (Thursday) afternoon to support this view.

Brazil JP Morgan and FleetBoston have been mandated to arrange a loan for Global Telecom. The amount has yet to be announced.

Kone Corp, the Finnish elevator and escalator company, has signed a Eu1bn EMTN programme via joint arrangers Nordea and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney. The dealer group also includes ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Okobank and SEB Merchant Banking.

Deutsche Bank has found a replacement for Robert Mohamed. It wasted no time, spared no expense and made every effort in searching high and low for the new head of MTN origination. And as is often the case when you go on a crusade, the thing you're looking for has been right under your nose all along. Stephanie Sfakianos, head of Deutsche's CP origination, is taking on the MTN role as well. What will happen when Robert starts at Merrill remains to be seen. It is rumoured that the aftershocks have not yet settled... Stephanie can't be all pleased though. Lufthansa has taken it upon itself to upstage MTNWeek in the awards department by making Morgan Stanley its best CP dealer for 2001. Gene O'Shea received a lump of metal in the shape of a plane's engine, or turbine, or something, as a mark of appreciation. More importantly he was also given two free tickets to wherever he fancies. One dealer said: "It's an amazingly nice touch and we're so pleased to have..." Yeah, okay. Dresdner's Michael Stump has recently flown back from Bangkok in Thailand, after visiting the island where they filmed The Beach. He had a great time, but Michael was a bit disappointed when he ordered Sum Yung Gai at a restaurant, and got a Thai soup instead.

Romania has ended weeks of waiting for emerging markets origination teams in London by mandating Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan as the joint leads for its new Eu300m-Eu500m seven year Eurobond.

UK food retailer Safeway reported positive full year results today (Wednesday) to continue its turnaround after an extremely difficult 2000.

Swire Pacific has put its name to a $1.5 billion Euro-MTN programme. HSBC and Morgan Stanley are the joint arrangers. The issuer's inaugural deal is said to be a HK$1 billion ($128.21 million) five-year note with an international deal coming later in the year. The company is only the second Hong Kong-based issuer to have come to the market since the beginning of 2000. Dao Heng Bank set up its $1 billion Euro-MTN programme in April last year, also with HSBC as arranger, but the A3-rated bank has yet to issue its first trade off the facility. Swire Pacific has interests in airlines, trading and marine services but more than 68% of its operating profits comes from the property business. The company's airline holdings include stakes in Cathay Pacific Airways. The programme is rated A3 by Moody's and A- by Standard & Poor's. Hong Kong-domiciled borrowers have issued 76 trades in 2001 but 75 of these were done by Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong). The dealers on the panel are the arrangers, ABN Amro, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Salomon Smith Barney, Standard Chartered Bank and UBS Warburg.

Sonera this week completed a Eu360m sale of shares in VoiceStream, the US mobile operator that Deutsche Telekom is acquiring. The deal is a further indication, in the wake of last week's Vodafone convertible and this week's rights issue from British Telecom, that the equity markets are beginning to show some enthusiasm for telecom stocks.

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Toyota has overhauled one of its four Euro-CP programmes. Toyota Finance Australia has been added as an issuer to the existing issuers, Toyota Motor Finance Netherlands, Toyota Financial Services and Toyota (GB). The ceiling off the programme has been raised from euro1.5 billion ($1.33 billion) to euro2.2 billion. Deutsche Bank has replaced Citibank as the issuing and paying agent.

Caixa Geral de Depositos and Nederlandse Waterschapsbank have both issued thirty-year yen trades. The first is a ¥500 million ($4.09 million) note that pays interest semi-annually. The second is a ¥1 billion Bermuda-callable note that was managed by Daiwa SBCM Europe and pays 5.5%. Tom Meuwissen, head of treasury at Nederlandse Waterschapsbank, says: "Yen is definitely the cheapest currency at the moment, and I hope it stays like this. Unfortunately it doesn't always offer the sizes we would like, but we still hope to raise between euro3 billion ($2,65 billion) and euro4 billion this year."