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* Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel Rating: A1/A+

German bathroom fittings manufacturer Grohe launched its Eu200m 10 year high yield issue last Friday (November 3), confounding sceptics by issuing its paper with an 11.5% coupon and achieving broad international distribution. Bankers at several bond houses had said the price talk of 11.625%-11.75% was too tight, and that the deal would have to depend largely on German demand.

Commerzbank's cautious pricing of the Eu34.4m IPO of Heiler appears to have worked with the stock trading up during the week despite a troubled market. The 3.825m share issue priced at Eu9 from a range of Eu8.50-Eu13.50 but bankers said a high quality order book had been secured. The stock closed at Eu9.50 on Xetra on Monday, the first day of trading, and reached as high as Eu11 the following day.

Merrill Lynch has launched a Eu3bn IPO for Interbrew that the brewing company hopes will capitalise on nervous market sentiment with a cheaply priced and strongly defensive stock. The 88.2m shares will be sold at Eu30-Eu38. That gives the company an EV/Ebitda of 9.3 times to 10 times 2001 earnings compared to smaller rival Heineken at 12.3 times 2001 earnings. A number of investors are likely to switch out of Heineken into Interbrew stock.

Landesbank Sachsen Girozentrale (Sachsen) has signed a euro3 billion ($2.57 billion) Euro-CP programme. It is likely to be the precursor to a flurry of landesbank signings. With their state guarantees under threat of being scrapped, the landesbanks will be looking for cheap money while they can get it. But Oliver Golla, assistant Euro-CP trader at Sachsen, is adamant this is not the reason for signing now. He says: "We do not expect to lose our state guarantee and therefore this is not a reason for our signing. It makes sense to have alternative options and the money markets offer good flexibility." Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz signed a multi-currency CP programme in September (see MTNWeek, issue 200). And it is rumoured that Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale will be signing a programme in December. Golla says: "It is a good time to sign, with many landesbanks entering the money markets because of the cost savings and the rise in interest rates." The arranger off Sachsen's programme is Deutsche Bank. The dealers are the arranger, the issuer, Bayerische Landesbank, BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs.

Among the flood of telecoms companies expected to tap the equity market, analysts view Portugal Telecom's Eu2.5bn offer as one of the cheapest. The book will open on November 14 and close on December 4. "While the stock should be valued at Eu15 it is trading at Eu10 so there is a lot of upside," said a fund manager based in Lisbon. Investors also perceive the company as a defensive stock and are interested in the company's focus on Portugal and Brazil.

Lehman Brothers has expanded its investment banking and equity research presence with a string of hires. In investment banking, the firm has hired 10 DLJ bankers and analysts. They include Mark Pytosh who joins as a managing director and will co-head the global industrial investment banking group.

Another large German company has come to the market with a jumbo financing, continuing the strong flow of deals from the corporate sector. MAN Group is tapping the market for a Eu1.25bn facility - one of the largest plain vanilla transactions to come out of the country this year.

Roadshows for the Eu51.7m IPO of Mediapps, a French producer of software to create portals, started on Tuesday with BNP Paribas and HSBC CCF joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the deal. The price range has been set between Eu8.8 and Eu10. Pricing and allocations are scheduled for November 21, with listing on the Nouveau Marché due on November 24.

Recommendations from Paul Myners, head of the UK government's review on pension reform, that the minimum funding requirement (MFR) be abolished had little effect on the UK bond markets this week, with spreads on government and corporate debt virtually unchanged by the report's findings. Myners, chairman of Gartmore Investment Management, has dismissed the MFR as seriously inadequate as a safeguard of pension fund investors' interests and has said it is a source of distortions in investment decision making.

Bahrain Mandated arrangers ABC, DG Bank, Gulf International Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi have closed the $92.5m term loan facility for Bahrain International. The deal was launched at $80m but was increased after oversubscription.