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* Swedish Export Credit Rating: Aa2/AA+

What a difference a week makes. There we were in sun-soaked, broiling Marrakech watching the world go by and trying to have a short rest. The Sheraton Marrakech, where we always stay, is definitely not a swishy venue compared to the Ammanjenna or the distinctly jaded La Mamounia. However, the staff are to die for and we are treated like U2 (we are too old and circumspect to be mistaken for Oasis) or a Goldman Sachs partner. But the hotel is fun. So many groups come in and out that it is like a railway station. In the first two days we had what seemed to be a German petrol-pump attendants conference, a high ranking Jesuit convention and then delegates from an African-Arab summit in aid of starving children. The Jesuits kept to themselves and the Arab-African summiteers were conspicuous mainly by the number of lounging idle overweight bodyguards. "Who pays for these guys?" we asked ourselves, as you don't have to be a World Bank economist to know that 98% of the African countries are potless. We much preferred the German petrol pump attendants who like to call themselves petrol retail distributors. In terms of clothes chic they looked as if they came from East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down. But the men were fun and gold medal Olympic drinkers and as for the wives and long limbed girlfriends, who needs to be concerned about the world of chic when you are wearing no more than a bikini bottom, a light smearing of sun oil and a big smile!

Merrill is one man down again as Mike Bransford walks over to do credit derivatives on Deutsche Bank's trading desk. His ex-colleagues at Merrill say they will miss him and that he is an all-round good bloke. Rodolfo Diotallevi at Merrill missed out on about a year's worth of gossip while he was trekking in Guatamala and sunbathing in Miami recently. Imagine his surprise to return and find no Mike Bransford, no Arturo Lorente and no Robert Mohamed. And Leak hears SNS Bank will be thanking its favourite dealers with a traditional box of chocolates. The boys at SNS were so pleased at being voted issuer making best use of its programme in the annual dealer survey that they also felt the need to present themselves with an award in the shape of a golden parking bollard, which they have called 'the golden dick.' Hopefully the chocolates will not come in the same shape, or some dealers might find it hard to swallow.

Sanpaolo IMI Bank is set to issue a seven-year euro45 million ($38.1 million) note on June 13. The non-syndicated note pays interest annually. Lehman Brothers is the lead dealer on the trade.

Lehman Brothers completed a Eu300m best-of exchangeable for Swiss Life Finance, the Swiss insurance company, on Tuesday. The five year bond will offer investors the choice of converting their holding into HSBC Holdings or Swiss Life shares. There is an outstanding Eu50m greenshoe yet to be exercised. The offer of two stocks will give the bondholder more value, and a choice of which stock to convert into. This was a good piece of business for Lehman. Swiss Life is rated AA- by Standard and Poor's and as a banker close to the deal said: "It's a great name be assoc-iated with".

Bahrain Arrangers Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have successfully wrapped up the syndication of the $300m five year facility for Investcorp. The deal was oversubscribed and the arrangers are now working on final allocations.

* Schroders has unified the management of its fixed income teams under Bob Michele. Michele, who retains overall responsibility for North American fixed income in New York, becomes global head of the fixed income group. "We have had fixed income teams in various parts of the world - the US, the UK and Asia - for some time," Andrew Sykes, the director responsible for fixed income, told EuroWeek. "Individually we have got some very good teams in place yet the business is increasingly driven by global trends."

Danone, the French foods company, launched a successful Eu750m convertible this week via JP Morgan and Crédit Agricole Indosuez Lazard. The deal was more than 4-1/2 times oversubscribed, more because of the popularity of the underlying equity than because of the structure or coupon of the bond.

Colombia and Uruguay took advantage of growing demand from retail investors for Latin American euro denominated deals in the absence of any strong emerging market supply and amid renewed confidence of market stability after Argentina completed its debt swap. Colombia added Eu200m to its 11.375% 2008 issue, taking it to Eu800m, and Uruguay priced a Eu200m 10 year bond at 210bp over Bunds via Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and UBS Warburg.

The syndication of the £400m five year multi-currency revolver for Hays, the business services group, has been closed oversubscribed by arrangers Barclays, Lloyds TSB and WestLB. The borrower has opted for an increase to £450m. Fourteen banks came into the deal. The margin on the loan ranges between an initial 37.5bp and 45bp when fully drawn.

Turk Eximbank this week became the first top tier Turkish bank to award a mandate for a refinancing since Turkey's financial crisis. ABN Amro, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Bayerische Landesbank, Citibank, Commerzbank, Natexis Banques Populaires and WestLB are joint arrangers of the $75m one year term loan.

Globals * European Bank for Reconstruction & Development