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Bahrain The $100m loan for Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait has been signed, after about $175m was raised from the market.

RUSSIA will make its return to the international equity markets after a two year absence today (Friday) with the completion of the Deutsche Bank and ING Barings-led $330m IPO of Mobile TeleSystems, which closed around four times covered yesterday (Thursday). The success of the deal - the first equity offering since Russia defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1998 - has prompted Russia's number two mobile player, VimpelCom, to begin premarketing a $350m combined equity and convertible offering.

* Morgan Stanley Dean Witter priced Medigene's IPO at the top of the range this week. The deal will raise around Eu121m if the greenshoe is exercised. A total of 2.9m shares, including the greenshoe, were sold at Eu42. Bankers said the deal was 20 times covered, with strong demand from Germany and Switzerland. Most of the deal was sold to dedicated biotech funds.

* Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa Investment Banking has made organisational changes, effective immediately. There will be a new operating committee which will develop responses to client needs and challenges in the market, the professional development of bankers, the use of technology, and co-ordination with other businesses.

Finland Goldman Sachs sold a 4.389m block of Sonera shares this week in a bought deal that raised Eu225m. The deal was launched and completed on Tuesday morning and the shares were offered flat to the then market price of Eu51.25. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The planned A$4bn IPO of the insurance arm of NRMA could be halved, with fewer than expected NRMA members expected to sell their shares into the local and global bookbuilding facility. Latest indications suggest that only about 10% of the 2m members will sell their shares into the facility. This is half the original estimate of 20% and well below the 27% tendered for cash in the AMP flotation of 1998.

The week was dominated by two events: the FOMC meeting and the mammoth $14.6bn equivalent multicurrency, multi-tranche offering from Deutsche Telekom. In spite of these momentous occurrences, dollar swap spreads ended the week very near where they were at the end of the previous week. The 10 year mid-market was about 125.25bp over the 6.50% February 2010 notes by lunchtime yesterday (Thursday). Five year swaps were about 104.25bp over 6.75% May 2005 notes, and two year swaps were at 84bp over the 6.375% 2002 Treasury.

ROADSHOWS began this week for the Eu3.5bn Goldman Sachs and SG-led IPO of Vivendi Environment, with the deal scheduled to be priced on July 11. A range of Eu36-Eu41 has been set for the offer, in which between 77.1m and 87.9m shares will be sold.

MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter closed Spanish media giant Prisa's Eu790m IPO between 15 and 20 times covered this week with investors drawn to the company' solid and profitable business model. The deal priced at Eu20.80 - from a range of Eu17.25-Eu21.50 - and performed well during its first week of trading.

Sabesp, the Sao Paulo State water utility, this week launched a $200m three year 144A issue, making it the first non-federally owned Brazilian corporate to issue bonds longer than two years since the Russian crisis. The transaction, led by Deutsche Banc Alex Brown and Salomon Smith Barney, was priced at a fixed re-offer of 99.675 to yield 12.125%, and traded up in the secondary market.

* European Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

Denmark The Eu650m CP back-up facility for Tele Danmark was signed last week in Copenhagen. Syndication was 80% oversubscribed and banks were heavily scaled back.