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A number of leveraged buy-outs were being worked on this week which are unlikely to be launched before year end. DB Capital Partners and French holiday group Pierre & Vacances have signed an agreement with Scottish & Newcastle to buy its Center Parcs leisure group for Eu1.124bn (£670m).

* Cirio SpA Amount: Eu150m

Credit derivatives have so far made a far greater contribution to bank balance sheet CDOs than to arbitrage transactions - but that is beginning to change.

Finance for Danish Industry has increased its euro5 billion ($4.22 billion) Euro-MTN programme to euro7 billion. Swedbank has been added as a dealer. It has also taken the opportunity to update its $200 million CP programme, signed in 1989. It has replaced it with a fresh programme with an increased ceiling of euro2 billion and appointed Citibank as the arranger. The dealers off the replacement are Citibank, Credit Suisse First Boston, Deutsche Bank and the issuer itself.

Ford Motor Credit has upped the limit on its euro5 billion ($4.29 billion) Euro-MTN programme to euro8 billion and JP Morgan has replaced Merrill Lynch as a dealer. The facility has $4.60 billion oustanding off 29 trades.

Some dealers are pleased that there is demand for long-dated funding. "We're not printing that many tickets, but at least the deals we are doing are a little more interesting than usual." Credit-Linked & Structured Securities, Deutsche Bank's Channel Island's SPV, did a euro28.94 million ($24.31 million) trade that matures in November 18 2040. This is its seventh 40-year or longer note since March. The longest tenor it has hit is 50 years with a Ffr621 million ($91 million) note it sold in March, which paid interest semi-annually. The final coupon was 5.14%.

Freddie Mac launched and priced its second EuReference Note this week, overcoming difficult market conditions and scepticism that the borrower would be able to square its aim of offering a liquid benchmark at a clearing level with its need to maintain competitive funding levels.

Ile de France is set to become the first French local authority to join the Euro-MTN market after announcing that it will sign a euro1 billion ($857.70 billion) Euro-MTN programme early next year. The arrangers are BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch. Ile de France has decided against going on a roadshow and will instead use the Bloomberg network to market the programme. The authority has already used a Bloomberg roadshow for its euro100 million standalone issue in October 1999. Andre Autrand, chief financial officer at Ile de France, says: "We are very keen on the electronic roadshow as we have experience with it and it gets us results in the short-term. We shall also use the websites of our arrangers." In the first year the issuer will be limited to raising euro300 million. The private markets will satisfy one-third of this and two-thirds will come from larger longer-dated issues. Autrand says: "We are looking for long-dated trades up to a maximum of 15 years. In the Euro-MTN market we are looking at eight to 15 years. We would like to look beyond this but at the moment we are restricted to this maturity. Nevertheless it is an option we would consider." The issuer says it is keen to encourage reverse enquiry and hopes that use of the websites will assist this function. Autrand says: "We are hoping that reverse enquiry will let us reach new sources of finance at reduced cost. It takes three to four days for us to turn around a trade but we are making efforts to make this process quicker, especially with the internet." Despite not being guaranteed by the French government, the programme will be the first Euro-MTN facility from a European local authority rated triple-A by Moody's and Standard & Poor's. The dealers are ABN Amro, CDC Marches, Deutsche Bank, Dexia Capital Markets, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, UBS Warburg and the two arrangers.

Freddie Mac launched and priced its second EuReference Note this week, overcoming difficult market conditions and scepticism that the borrower would be able to square its aim of offering a liquid benchmark at a clearing level with its need to maintain competitive funding levels.

Corporate banking used to be a business based on relationships - banks would give companies cheap loans in return for other business. But customers have too rarely kept their side of the bargain, and the returns are pitiful.

Gillette has signed a $1 billion Euro-CP programme. The dealers are Credit Suisse First Boston as arranger and Deutsche Bank.