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Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Moody's revised their outlook on Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Ericsson) from stable to negative this week, while affirming their A+/A1 ratings. S&P cited increasing levels of operating losses within the consumer products segment and weaker than expected cashflow generation during the first nine months of 2000.

Republic of Columbia has increased its $2.5 billion Euro-MTN programme to $3.5 billion. The programme was signed in 1995 via Goldman Sachs and has $2.22 billion outstanding off 12 trades.

Rheinboden Hypothekenbank has increased its debt issuance programme from euro3 billion ($2.46 billion) to euro5 billion. Since the German bank signed the programme in September last year, it has issued $1.01 billion off 15 trades, all denominated in either euros or yen.

celand Bayerische Landesbank has won the mandate to arrange a Eu12m term loan for Lysing hf. The facility has a tenor of three years and pays a margin of 75bp over Euribor. The borrower's last syndicated loan was a $21m term loan arranged by Danske Bank and RBS. The facility paid a margin of 35bp over Libor and a commitment fee of 17.5bp.

* European Bank for Reconstruction & Development Rating: Aaa/AAA

Valenciana de Cementos (Valenciana) signed its euro2 billion ($1.66 billion) Euro-MTN programme yesterday, October 26. It had been planning to sign the programme since July (see MTNWeek, issue 201). The issuer has also announced its 11-strong dealer panel. It is ABN Amro, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Chase Manhattan, Credit Agricole Indosuez, Dresdner Bank, ING Barings, Salomon Smith Barney, Westdeutsche Landesbank and the arranger, Deutsche Bank. Valenciana is the third Spanish corporate to sign an MTN shelf this year.

* Inter-American Development Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded Xerox Corp to near junk status on Tuesday. The rating agency cut Xerox's rating from BBB to BBB- after the world's largest photocopier maker reported a $128m third quarter loss, excluding a $55m pre-tax charge for accounting fraud in Mexico, in line with expectations. Xerox said it did not expect any further charges in connection with the Mexico subsidiary investigation.

* Sanikleen Corp Guarantor: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd

* General Electric Capital Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Norwegian incumbent telecoms operator Telenor is expected to announce next week that the bookbuilding period for its Eu5bn IPO will be open for institutions from November 13 to December 1, and from November 17 to November 30 for retail investors. The deal was originally planned for September and was expected to raise about Eu7bn, but the Swedish government put the sale back until after its October budget announcement so that investors could take account of any changes in tax laws. The issue, which will consist of between 15% and 25% of the company, is now expected to raise much less because of the fall in valuations of comparable companies.

Transnet, the South African state-guaranteed transport company, has dropped Sumitomo Finance as a dealer off its $1 billion Euro-MTN programme. The shelf was signed in 1998 and has issued just two trades, which amount to $637.23 million.