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Renault Credit International has increased the limit off its euro4 billion Euro-MTN programme to euro6 billion. The Merrill Lynch arranged facility was isgned in 1994 and has over $3.4 billion outstanding.

Corus this week announced the resignation of its CEOs, Fokko van Duyne and John Bryant, following the group's recent poor performance. The Anglo-Dutch steel group said that "further major restructuring will have to take place in the UK". Recent company news has not been received well in the bond markets. Analysts say that they do not expect to see much improvement after the company announced UK losses of £226m for the first six months of the year and there are expectations of further significant losses.

Rio Tinto has issued its sixth one-year note with a $49 million trade that matures on December 11 2001. The FRN, which pays interest quarterly, will be issued on December 11 this year. Despite the length of the issue Ian Ratnage, head of treasury at Rio Tinto told MTNWeek last week that he is looking at longer dated issues. He said: "We will continue to issue opportunistically and are now seeing opportunities in the five-year maturity." Rio Tinto has $189.03 million outstanding off its $2 billion Euro-MTN programme. Ian Ratnage said that it was unlikely that the issuer would ever hit the programmes issue limit in its first year.

Sachsen LB Europe has been added as an issuer to Sachsen's euro5 billion ( $4.46 billion) Euro-MTN programme. Merrill Lynch is the arranger of the programme, which has almost $1 billion outstanding off 10 trades.

Citibank has scooped another two CP arrangership mandates, bringing the total it's signed this year to five. The latest signings bring to market the second Spanish issuer and the third American issuer of 1999. American corporate, Sara Lee, is set to sign a euro600 million ($648 million) Euro-CP facility on May 17 1999. The borrower is a major player in a variety of industries such as food and beverage, household goods and body care products. Famous labels include Douwe Egberts Coffee, Kiwi shoe polish and Wonderbra. It has operations in over 40 countries worldwide. The dealer group off the programme is to be confirmed but rumoured to include Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan and the arranger. It is rated P-1 by Moody's, A1+ by Standard & Poor's. Spanish retail bank, Caixa de Barcelona, signed its $1.5 billion Euro-CP programme on April 30. It follows hot on the heals of CAM Global Finance, which signed its euro6 billion Euro-CP facility last week (see MTNWeek, issue 128). The dealer panel includes Goldman Sachs, Warburg Dillon Read and the arranger.

UBS Warburg has hired seven senior bankers from DLJ, six of whom had joined the merged CSFB-DLJ firm. UBS is in talks with as many as 18 more of varying seniority who, if talks are successful, are expected to join in the spring. Richard Ng-Yow, who joined UBS Warburg's East Coast operation on Monday as a managing director, never joined the merged firm. He had been head of equity linked capital markets at DLJ, but took a package on merger day. He became head of US equity linked origination at UBS Warburg, reporting to Mark Connelly, who heads US ECM.

Securitas will use the public markets to issue the inaugural note off its euro1.5 billion Euro-MTN programme. The facility was signed at the end of November, as reported in MTNWeek, issue 208. The debut trade is not as big as Olaf Bengtsson, director of corporate finance at Securitas, said it would be when he spoke to MTNWeek at the signing. He hoped that it would be a euro500 million trade, but it is for euro350 million. The tenor is exactly as predicted, however: six-years. The coupon is 6.125%. The bookrunners will be BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, who also act as the arrangers of the programme. This is the third large, pubic Eurobond issued off an Euro-MTN programme from a triple-B Swedish issuer since October. Electrolux launched its five-billion euro1 billion note last week and Swedish Match issued a six-year euro300 million note in October.

One of only a handful of corporate-sponsored asset-backed CP programmes in the market has been signed by Siemens this month. The euro10 billion ($9.79 billion) global programme was signed under the name of Siefunds Corp, a conduit guaranteed by the German electronics company. The US half of the programme has already been signed, while the Euro half is likely to come at the end of January 2001. Peter Rek, head of securitization at Siemens Financial Services, says: "It's a bit premature to be sure, but the feedback we've had from our dealers suggests good demand and a lot of interest. Two of them wanted more than the initial share of the first issue." The first issue was done on the signing date (December 1 2000) and amounted to $570 million. Rek expects the outstanding volume to be between $2 billion and $3 billion by the end of 2001. He is aware of only two other programmes sponsored by corporates, Redwood Receivables Corp and Edison Asset Securitization, both of which are US domestic programmes sponsored by GE Capital. Siefunds' programme is a multi-seller facility, pooling receivables from sellers inside and outside the Siemens group. Rek says: "Siemens has more than $20 billion of receivables, so this programme is a good opportunity for making the most of our balance sheet." The programme is self-arranged, and the dealers on the US part of the programme are Chase Manhattan, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. The same dealers are on the Euro leg of the facility but are joined by Barclays Capital.

Skipton Building Society has finally signed its £

Poor prevailing conditions in the Korean domestic stock market this year has proved a hammer blow for primary issuance. The stock market has been the worst regional performer — down a dizzying 45% since January. Negative news on DRAM semiconductor prices, stalled restructuring efforts and high oil prices have conspired to kill off investor faith in the market. For a return of confidence in the Korean market to happen, more than just positive external factors are required. Richard Morrow reports.

* Commerzbank AG Rating: Aa3/AA-/A+

Gas Natural has received an A1 rating from Moody's and an A- rating from Standard & Poor's for its forthcoming Euro-MTN programme, rumoured to be signing on February 26. The grades come after months of speculation by market participants about the borrower trying to achieve a rating. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, Gas Natural has a share of the domestic gas supply market which amounts to over 90%. Gas Natural is internationally active in gas distribution via jointly-owned ventures in Argentina, Mexico, Columbia and Brazil. It is owned 45% by Repsol, 25% by La Caixa, with the remaining 30% being floated. Moody's says its A1 rating reflects Gas Natural's dominant position in the Spanish gas supply market, as well as the long-term protection from competition it will receive in the important residential or commercial market. The rating also takes into account the progressive liberalisation of the Spanish gas market which might gradually erode Gas Natural's domestic market share. Merrill Lynch is tipped to have won the arrangership mandate for the Euro-MTN facility, which is the borrower's foray in the international debt capital markets. The dealer group has yet to de finalised.