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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.

After leaving Merrill Lynch on September 16, Margo Vignola has joined ABN Amro as head of research for the Americas. It is a new position, and Vignola will have responsibility for expanding the Dutch bank's equity research team in the Americas along a sectoral basis. She had been a co-director of Merrill's US fundamental equity research since 1997. Deepak Raj, who was Vignola's co-head at Merrill and took up the position in March of this year replacing Stanley Rubin who had retired after 25 years with the firm, now assumes sole responsibility for the group.

Telecoms equipment supplier Motorola moved quickly to take advantage of a more stable US corporate bond market and little new supply this week to issue a blowout $1.2bn 10 year transaction. The A1/A+ deal, led by Merrill Lynch, was increased from $1bn and traded in to 173bp on the break, from a launch spread of 179bp.

* Pierre Blandin has joined Dresdner Kleinwort Benson as head of public sector debt capital markets. Michel Bernard becomes head of DCM, France. Blandin will head a team covering sovereigns, supras, agencies and local authorities globally. He reports to head of debt syndicate Joe Dryer.

Denmark JP Morgan and ArosMaizels began marketing Novozymes at the end of last week. A total of 4.75m shares are due to be priced at Dkr125-Dkr160 on November 16. Trading will begin the following day.

* AIG SunAmerica Institutional Funding II Rating: Aaa/AAA

Croatia DAB, the Croatian state agency for bank rehabilitation and deposit insurance, has announced it will issue up to Ck2.5bn ($286m) of bonds to fund reimbursement of depositors at failed banks.

Novuspharma's stock lost 1.25% on its first day of trading (Thursday) closing at Eu79, from an issue price of Eu80. The stock started trading after a 5.4% fall on the Nasdaq. "We picked quite a day," said a banker close to the deal. The stock lost more than Eu3.5 in its trading debut to Eu76.50 before rebounding to Eu79.

* Dexia Municipal Agency Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA