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Enel has put pen to paper, today Thursday December 7 2000, and signed the eighth global MTN programme of 2000. For full details of the programme see MTNWeek, issue 208.

Eni has hit the market twice with two five-year dollar trades to be issued tomorrow. Both trades pay interest annually. The $20 million note pays a final coupon of 6.42% and the $15 million issue pays a final coupon of 6.36%. It is Eni's third dollar trade this year following another five-year note, issued on November 16, which paid a final coupon of 6.82%. Eni has used its programme on only two more occasions, issuing two ten-year euro500 million ($438.43 million) notes that were both issued on 9 June 2000.

* Banca Popolare di Intra Rating: BBB+/A- (S&P/Fitch)

The US MTN market is renowned as an issuer-driven credit market with large vanilla trades. When the euro was introduced dealers thought the Euro-MTN market would become increasingly like the US MTN market. Two years on, it has developed and is heading for the liquidity and easy issuance that comes with a single currency. This year has seen less structured private placements than previous years and investors are moving down the credit curve. Has the US MTN market got anything left to offer that the Euro-MTN market can't? Diageo set up its US MTN programme in October 1999 and Matthew Antoniou, head of capital markets at Diageo, says: "We use MTNs in general to smooth out our maturity profile. We like to have maximum flexibility in funding so we are not held hostage to any one market and the more markets we have access to the better." And one US issuer also finds that the US market provides long maturities. Chris Nolan, manager of treasury and foreign exchange at Coca Cola Amatil, says: "You can go out for a much longer duration in the US market of around 30 years. The US investors are willing to take a little more risk than Euro investors, but that is changing." Bruce Cairnduff, director of iBrax, ran the Deutsche US MTN desk in New York until two years ago. He says: "There is a huge benefit in having a US domestic programme as well as a Euro programme. Every major issuer should and probably does have both programmes or a global MTN. Markets throughout the world behave in different ways at different times, so it is an advantage if you've created access to markets in the US, Europe and Japan." But some dealers feel the US market lacks the excitement of the Euromarket. There are still three main differences between the two markets. The Euromarket remains a multi-currency market, with just 34% of the trades this year done in euro. This gives arbitrage opportunities that are not possible in the US MTN market. Michael Maita, vice president, debt capital markets at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in New York, says: "The Euro-market is fragmented and flexible in terms of currency. Historically the Euro-MTN has two purposes - as a platform for Eurobonds and for reverse enquiry for private placements." Secondly, US MTNs are almost exclusively vanilla products. This eliminates much of the more intellectually stimulating work of devising structures. There have been strict regulations governing the issuance of structures in the US following the bankruptcy scandal of Orange County in 1994. More than $1.6 billion was lost from one of the US' most profitable derivatives-based investment pools. And thirdly, US programmes are closed to reverse enquiry. Cairnduff, who also worked in the UK heading the desks at Lehman Brothers and then Sumitomo, says: "US issuers only work with their dealer group. It's difficult for dealers on a competitive basis to show opportunities to issuers. The whole process is homogeneous and there is no opportunity for dealers to be creative." Bank of Scotland set up both its US and Euro-MTN programmes in 1996, but has used the Euro programme much more. Stephen Lorimer, senior dealer, capital markets at the bank, says: "Virtually everything we do is off our Euro-MTN programme." One particular aspect of the US market can be off-putting to issuers that are used to the flexible attitude to credits in the Euromarket. Lorimer, at Bank of Scotland, which is rated A1/Aa3, says: "Rating is all-important. Some will buy a split-rated issuer and some won't, so it can be frustrating for issuers on the cusp. I think the European investor base is prepared to sit down and do its own credit work." But the uniform approach to credit ratings can also mean increased liquidity in the US market. Whereas a European investor might prefer a well-known issuer of its own nationality, US investors see the rating and may not need further details of the issuer's credit story. Lafarge's US subsidiary has a US MTN programme, but Lafarge itself has not yet felt the need to set one up. Jean-Marc Doucet, long-term funding manager at Lafarge, says: "As a French issuer, about 30% or 40% of the bonds and notes we place are in French investors' hands, so liquidity in the Euromarket is not as high as in the US." One downside of the US market is rule 133 of the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). US investors have to mark-to-market currency swaps and as a result these transactions are more complex than in the Euromarket. Brian McCarthy, director, head of Euro-MTNs at Lehman Brothers, says: "FASB 133 is a major concern for US issuers that want to look to issue in other currencies. This makes the EMTN market all the more fascinating since the US MTN market is almost entirely dollar based." But another rule, 2a-7, ensures that the share price of a money market fund and the market value of its portfolio do not differ too much. This protects investors, and permits the short-term money market funds to invest only in highly-rated notes. McCarthy says: "It's easier for issuers to get lots of large MTNs done in the US in the front-end of the curve by using the named agents on their MTN programmes. Many of the US banks and finance companies take advantage of this aggressive front-end bid and can be in and out of the market for $500 million in a few hours by merely posting MTN levels."

* Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten NV Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Metso Corporation signed its euro1 billion ($979 million) Euro-MTN programme, Monday December 11 2000, one month later than expected. The arranger, as reported in MTNWeek, issue 205, is Salomon Smith Barney. The Finnish machine maker has been given a BBB+ long-term rating by Standard & Poor's and Baa2 long-term rating by Moody's, but both agencies have put the Finnish corporate on negative outlook with Moody's pointing out that Metso's pending acquisition of Svedala will be debt-financed. Pekka Holtta, Metso's corporate treasurer, is not concerned, however. He says: "The negative outlooks are based on our acquisition plans, and are therefore event driven." He insists that though Metso hopes to lengthen the maturity of its debt, the Euro-MTN programme will play no direct part in the financing of the acquisition. "I admit, though, that it has motivated our timing," he says. Holtta intends to market Metso's name extensively. He says: "I think the procedure is the same as for the acquisition side. We will take time to communicate the strategy of our company to investors. We will be travelling to some extent. But there are no immediate plans in my mind for a roadshow. It would be far more relevant for investors to listen to us should there be some paper available to buy." There are no plans for an inaugural trade, but Holtta says that it is likely to be in the public market when it does happen. Metso would like to raise long-term debt off the Euro-MTN programme but admits that the long end of the curve is not the most attractive option at the moment. Holtta says: "We have to face the fact that it can be difficult to issue notes in the Euromarkets with periods of more than 10 years. Practically, the five-year sector is more available to us. But we are not such a capital-intensive company that we have extensive needs for 30-year debt." Metso is a global supplier of machinery and systems for the pulp and paper industry. It becomes the 13th issuer rated triple-B by Moody's and the third Finnish borrower to join the Euro-MTN market this year. The other two Fins were both corporates: Elisa, which signed last week, and Stora Enso. The dealer panel includes Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, MeritaNordbanken, Merrill Lynch, SEB Debt Capital Markets, UBS Warburg and the arranger.

First Active, the Irish mortgage lender, has signed the ninth global MTN programme of the year. It put pen to paper on a euro1.5 billion ($1.32 billion) global facility on December 7 2000. And it hopes that the programme will help it move away from its traditional source of funding. "Previously First Active has funded itself with mortgage-backed bonds. We're embarking on a new course of diversifying our funding," says Michael Torpey, director of treasury and finance. The issuer will not be able to launch mortgage-backed debt off the programme. Instead it hopes to issue lightly structured notes, such as equity-linked trades and subordinated debt and plans to issue euro300 to euro500 million-worth of debt off the programme in 2001. Torpey says that, despite the global format, the US investor base is not a core market. He says: "In the first instance we do not want to target the US. The US market has not looked a particularly attractive place recently to issue senior debt; it is more appropriate to sell subordinated debt there." First Active does not have plans for a public inaugural and therefore will not be going on a roadshow. But Torpey, who previously was group treasuer at Irish Life and Permanent, is keen to sell the First Investor credit. He says: "First Active's credit has more upside than downside potential. We are predominantly a mortgage lender in a vibrant Irish market. We are an improving story rather than just a steady story." It is rated A3 long-term by Moody's and A- long-term by Fitch. ABN Amro arranges the programme. The dealers are Bank of America, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Chase Manhattan, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and the arranger.

Allied Irish Banks has made its first foray into the dollar sector this year. It has used the market on 20 occasions since signing its programme in 1993 but it has only sold three notes this year. Both were 10-year euro-denominated FRNs. This note is a $8 million that matures in July 8 2002. The issue date is December 8 2000.

Four-year sterling attracted two issuers on Thursday December 7. HSBC and CSFB increased their Imperial Tobacco trade by £

Banco Santander Central Hispano has upped and redenominated its $3 billion Euro-CP programme to euro6 billion ($5.35 billion). CSFB, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Royal Bank of Scotland have been added to the dealer panel.

Who fired a harpoon straight into the back of Yann Gindre, the ebullient Frenchman who, in his time, has bagged more mandates than Louis Vuitton? We have followed Gindre's career from the early days at UBS, through BZW and Commerzbank to the murky waters of Chase Manhattan where he was enticed by his friend, Michael Ridley, who had arrived from Salomon.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN MTNs? I took over responsibility for funding in August last year together with Bart Toering who is responsible for day-to-day management of our MTN desk. Prior to joining SNS last year, I worked for Barclays Capital in London from 1993, where I was responsible for marketing derivatives to Dutch institutional investors and banks. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE JOB? The most satisfying part of my job is seeing that our intensive programme of roadshowing SNS to institutional investors throughout Europe has lead to a much broader and more diversified investor base that buy SNS bonds, both geographically and by investor type. We have also spent a lot of time with MTN dealers (both appointed and reverse enquiry) educating them on the SNS credit. Our strict policy of rewarding dealers who actively place SNS MTNs with a role in our public deals has paid off. Dealers know that they can expect to lead our public deals if they place a lot of MTNs or schuldscheine. This year we placed euro3.5 billion ($3 billion) in 150 private deals, so dealers should have a fair idea of their eligibility for leading SNS public deals. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE DEALER OF THE MONTH? Just look at who lead our last public issue, our euro700 million 6% October 2007. The syndicate consisted of Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg. These were the investment banks that placed most of our private deals in recent months. WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST INTERESTING TRADE YOU HAVE SEEN OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS? Being an issuer we tend to have a different focus. Dealers know what our funding targets are for vanilla deals in various maturities and that we knock-off four to five basis points for structures. We are very flexible in structured notes, and do not have a view on whether the structure is interesting or not, as long as it meets investor demand. The only structure we cannot do is credit-linked, because we do not have the systems to mark-to-market the underlying derivative. When a dealer can match our target he knows we will give him a mandate to execute the deal quickly. WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT TREND IN THE NEXT QUARTER? Equity and debt capital markets seem to be in a very delicate equilibrium at the moment. Corporate spreads have widened considerably in recent months, starting in the telecom sector. Refinancing of debt through equity issues by heavily leveraged firms may prove difficult in current markets and could well affect profitability of investment banks underwriting these bridge finances and syndicated loans. Although SNS has no exposure whatsoever to the telecom sector or emerging markets, our secondary spreads have been affected slightly as well. I sincerely hope, for all involved in this industry, that things will ease in the next quarter. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST ABOUT THE MARKET? There are still a few dealers around trying to bully their way into the syndicate of our public bond issues, knowing that they are not eligible because they haven't placed MTNs for SNS. The number is declining rapidly though and our policy has the full backing of the board of directors of SNS Reaal Group. WHICH OF YOUR COMPETITORS DO YOU ADMIRE MOST AND WHY? Abbey National. I am impressed by the detail of information on the site of Abbey National Treasury Services, especially their bond database. We have spent a lot of time developing our own investor relations web site, and our mortgage-backed securities site. IF YOU WEREN'T AN MTN DEALER WHAT WOULD YOU BE? I would live in the south of France, buying, restoring and selling under-developed retail property. WHAT CAR DO YOU OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRIVE? The ultimate family car a Volvo V70 during the week. When I moved back to the Netherlands last year I brought along my RHD 1973 Triumph Stag. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE RESTAURANT? Undoubtedly Chez Georges, 3 Herenstraat, Amsterdam. The best food in town in a living-room sized restaurant run by the Belgian Georges and his wife Betsie.