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SNS Bank Nederland (SNS) has increased the size of its euro10 billion ($9.38 billion) debt issuance programme to euro20 billion. SG has been dropped as a dealer. The following banks have joined the dealer panel: BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and UBS Warburg. Both HSBC and Goldman Sachs were involved in the SNS's euro700 million Eurobond in September 2000. SNS Bank is known for rewarding active reverse enquiry dealers by asking them to join the dealer panel off the MTN programme. See MTNWeek issue 201.

Market report Compiled by Vusi Mhlanzi, RBC DS Global Markets, South Africa. Tel: +27 11 784 5065

Stadtsparkasse Koln, the Aa3 rated German bank, has launched its second Swiss franc deal of the week. Following its earlier Sfr100 million ($61.2 million) one-year trade, it has sold a ten-year Sfr75 million note. The trade matures on January 31 2011 and pays interest quarterly. Since signing its Euro-MTN programme in November 1998, the issuer has raised $1.4 billion-worth of debt from 20 MTNs.

Svenska Handelsbanken has issued a £

* Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

BMW has been making use of both sides of the Atlantic, with a euro15 million ($14.09 million) deal that goes out to July 2003, and a $100 million issue that matures in January 2003. The bookrunner off the euro trade was UBS Warburg, and the fixed-rate note pays interest quarterly. The US dollar-denominated deal is a floating-rate note. Fredrik Altmann, capital markets at BMW, says: "Spread widening will continue, but at this stage of the year we are still very aggressive with our levels. Our strategy won't change at all, so like the last six years we will wait to see what our dealers will bring us."

* Akademiska Hus Rating: AA

The telecoms revival in the high yield market continued this week as Swedish operator Tele 1 Europe issued a Eu175m 12.375% 2008 deal, increased from Eu150m by leads Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. The issue marked Lehman Brothers' return to the market for the first time since lead managing CP Kelco's deal last September, which the bank bought back at 92% following a plunge in the paper's value and protests from investors.

Telmex issued Latin America's biggest ever plain vanilla corporate bond this week with its debut $1bn five year transaction. The 144a deal, led by JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch, attracted more than $1.5bn of orders after being priced attractively at 350bp over Treasuries, 15bp wider than the UMS 2006 global bond.

France Télécom announced this week a Eu55bn-Eu65bn valuation for its mobile unit, Orange, sparking a debate as to whether the figure represented a discount or a premium to competitor Vodafone. Investors have shown widespread appreciation of Orange's business model, but also voiced concern that the telecoms sector has further to fall. "People love the company," said a banker on the syndicate. "It is just a question of the sector as a whole. The price was received positively," he added. But some investors see Orange's offer as representing a premium to the company's most prominent comparable Vodafone. "How can they justify paying a premium to market leader Vodafone?" asked another banker in the syndicate. A third explained that on the most common valuation, the price range offered a discount.

Gazprom astounded the international capital markets this week by mandating Credit Suisse First Boston and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney for a Eurobond, touted for launch in early March. This would make the world’s biggest gas producer the first Russian Eurobond issuer since the 1998 crisis, preceding the sovereign. It would also be Gazprom’s inaugural approach to the international bond markets.

General Motors Acceptance Corp (GMAC) did a Sfr750 million ($ 456.15 million) public trade yesterday having avoided the currency for almost 16 months. Credit Suisse First Boston managed the four-year deal, the first time the bank has done a trade for GMAC since April 1998. The note pays a final coupon of 4%. And General Electric Capital Corp has issued its sixth Czech koruna note in three months. The one-year kr1 billion ($26.66 million) note pays a final coupon of 5.5%.