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THE Eu4.8m Finmeccanica equity offering had a mixed reception this week, due to concerns over the domination of the deal by retail investors and the exercise of the greenshoe in a poor market. But the concurrent Eu765m convertible had an easier ride. Both sales priced over the weekend of June 3, with Merrill Lynch, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney and Mediobanca acting as global co-ordinators.

Glencore International AG, the Swiss based commodities company, this week launched the largest ever securitisation of trade receivables in the bond market - a $700m, triple-A rated transaction lead managed by Deutsche Bank. The deal parcels Glencore's revenues from trading metals, minerals and oil products with customers in 42 countries worldwide.

The £5bn loan facility for Granada Group of the UK, backing its proposed merger with Compass Group, is heading for launch shortly, probably in the next two weeks. The keenly awaited deal has been kept closely under wraps, but some details have emerged.

THE Iberian peninsula's dominant media players generated excitement this week with the successful completion of Deutsche Bank's Eu265m IPO for Portugal's Impressa at the beginning of the week and the launch of Prisa's IPO by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The Impressa offer was priced at Eu10.25 from a range of Eu9-Eu10.75 and the retail tranche was 50 times covered. Even the institutional tranche was 18 times covered - figures few IPOs have generated since sentiment turned against telecoms, media and technology stocks in mid-March.

There is a frantic game of musical chairs taking place in the Euromarkets, with more money being waved around than at any time since the loony mid-1980s. In these spendthrift times you never seem to hear of a guaranteed compensation package of less than £1m, and that is for young movers and shakers in their twenties who, only a few years ago, were wearing short trousers or going to girl guide summer camps. At Merrill Lynch the prospective arrival of 'TJ' Lim has put the cat among the pigeons. The Merrill pack is being constantly reshuffled to make way for TJ's pals. Some Merrill folk may not be the happiest of bunnies but the overall message is that the firm is on a hiring spree. Merrill knows that it is being kippered in international fixed income by Deutsche Bank and TJ's mission is to close in on Edson Mitchell and to put a potato up Deutsche's exhaust pipe.

SALES of BSkyB stock by Kirch and Vivendi raised a total of Eu2.2bn this week and sent the media company's share price tumbling, amid recriminations on the timing of the deals. Having closed at 1,371p on Monday before the deals, the stock fell more than 6% on Tuesday and a further 5.76% on Wednesday. Yesterday (Thursday) it closed at 1,145p. Market observers were divided on which deal had done the stock price more harm.

The Eu30bn acquisition financing for France Télécom is in the market today (Friday), with senior co-arrangers and co-arrangers asked to join the latest super-jumbo financing to follow Vodafone’s Eu30bn credit.

South Africa South African Reserve Bank's $1bn cash loan has been strongly supported in syndication and is set to close easily oversubscribed. It is thought to have raised over $1.75bn.

China International Finance Corp has signed an agreement with Elkem Carbon China to invest $14m to develop a carbon based products business to make electrically calcined anthracite and Sodeberg Electrode Paste for the aluminium and ferro-alloy industries.

Europe * Quadrifoglio Srl

Australia Lead arrangers Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Australia), Barclays, Citibank Australia and Deutsche Bank Australia have invited sub-underwriters to join the A$676m project financing for CEPA Kogan Creek Holding. The amount was reduced from A$980m.