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Hong Kong Standard & Poor's (S&P) has raised Hong Kong's long term foreign currency rating from A to A+, also improving the sovereign ceiling-constrained ratings of companies including Hong Kong Electric, CLP Holdings and Mass Transit Railway Corp to A+.

CSFB has hired two JP Morgan managing directors, Klaus Said, who from 1993 to 2000 ran global exchange and commodities, and Gael de Boissard, who was head of European interest rate trading. De Boissard becomes head of European interest rate products, reporting to Trevor Price, who heads CSFB's rates business.

Credit Suisse First Boston was out yesterday (Thursday) bookbuilding for the sale of a Eu3bn stake in Italian energy company Eni. The company, which is listed in New York and Milan, is 35% owned by the Italian government. "It has been rumoured for a while the government was going to try and offload 5%," said Alastair Syme, an oil and gas analyst at Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in London. Yesterday, it happened. "They probably saw the share price," he added, "and knew that oil prices cannot stay so high for long, and decided they would monetise a bit of that now." Eni stock reached a 12 month high on Wednesday of Eu7.26.

* GMAC International Finance BV Guarantor: General Motors Acceptance Corp

EuroWeek understands that the credit facility backing DB Investments' $17.6bn bid for De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, is likely to carry extremely attractive terms and that the margins on offer will be much higher than the levels seen on previous facilities for De Beers and related companies. UBS Warburg, as bookrunner, and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein have jointly underwritten $5.3bn of senior debt, in three tranches, that will finance the DB Investments consortium's plan to simplify the share structure of De Beers by buying out minority shareholders and nullify complex cross-shareholdings.

DePfa broke new ground this week by using a pot system on its latest Pfandbrief issue - a Eu3.5bn global that was priced yesterday (Thursday). It is the first time a pot structure has been used in the Pfandbrief market. The 10 year global, which was led by Commerzbank, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, was priced at 51bp over the Bund, equivalent to Euribor less 3bp.

Just when telecoms companies thought things could not get any worse, this week they did.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has appointed Nick Morgan from JP Morgan to be head of ABS syndicate. Morgan is one of the most experienced asset backed syndicate officials in Europe, and his hiring is a key step in Dresdner's push to build a strong securitisation franchise.

Croatia Bank Austria (bookrunner) HypoVereinsbank, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (bookrunner), JP Morgan (bookrunner) and RZB have closed the Eu100m loan for Hrvatska Eletroprivreda (HEP). The deal was oversubscribed after 24 banks joined and the borrower is considering an increase.

Otmar Issing reiterated the European Central Bank’s (ECB) commitment to price stability in the medium term today, highlighting the need for continued wage moderation and the reduction of tax burdens and expenditure in euro area states.

El Paso Corporation, the world’s largest diversified natural gas company, has mandated ABN Amro and HypoVereinsbank for its inaugural euro bond, a Eu500m-Eu750m five or seven year transaction. The company will launch its debut after a pan-European roadshow beginning next Monday, February 26.

Brazil * Banco Bradesco (Cayman)