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THE REPUBLIC of Lebanon this week mandated Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Merrill Lynch to lead manage its forthcoming exchange bond offer, despite a background of regional uncertainty. The country is issuing the bonds shortly after the Israeli military withdrawal from South Lebanon, leaving a potential hotspot of activity. The recent death of President Hafez el-Assad of Syria has also caused a period of political transition, which will greatly affect the heavily Syrian-influenced country.

The Italian market came up with a mix of old and new economy offerings this week, with two media groups, an internet story and a bank all competing for investors' attention. The institutional tranche of the Eu83m-Eu96m IPO of media company Euphon is already oversubscribed. The retail tranche has yet to open, but is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week.

* Caisse Centrale du Crédit Immobilier de France - 3CIF Rating: A1/A+/AA-

BANCO Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria this week launched the first collateralised loan obligation backed by loans to municipalities. The Eu1.205bn deal converts loans made to Spanish local authorities by Banco de Crédito Local (BCL) into bonds that BCL retained to use as repo collateral.

CITIBANK and Société Générale, two of the leading banks in asset backed commercial paper, have restructured their conduits to counter the rising cost of liquidity back-up lines and reduce the need for credit enhancement. Citibank's A-1+/P-1/F-1 rated multi-seller conduit Eureka, which issues US and Euro-CP and is managed from London, has undergone a major refurbishment that will take effect at the end of July.

DEUTSCHE Bank last Friday launched the second collateralised loan obligation under its Globe programme, which securitises loans from its global banking division extended to large corporates in a wide range of countries. The deal is the first in an unprecedented spate of three CLOs that Deutsche will complete in the next few days in a bid to fulfil balance sheet management objectives by the end of the quarter.

BELGIUM's KBC Bank issued its second collateralised loan obligation this week - at Eu4.3bn the reference portfolio is the largest that has yet backed a public synthetic CLO. The transaction is also the first European CLO from a Belgian bank. KBC's first CLO, Orion Commercial Loan Master Trust, was a $1.5bn true sale transaction backed by US corporate loans and lead managed by Lehman Brothers in April 1999. The triple-A portion was funded in the asset backed commercial paper market.

* French bank Natexis Banques Populaires may launch its first collateralised debt obligation today (Friday). Structured by Lehman Brothers, the leveraged, synthetic deal transfers the credit risk on $412.5m of investment grade US and international corporate bonds on Natexis' balance sheet. Natix plc will issue two classes of public bonds - Eu25.8m of senior notes rated Aaa by Moody's with a 7.17 year average life and Eu17.9m of paper rated Baa3 with an average life of 7.48 years. The notes are amortising three month Euribor floaters with a legal maturity in 2008. Natexis will retain the Eu4.43m first loss piece and execute a super-senior credit default swap.

RFC Mortgage Services Ltd, the UK non-conforming lender owned by General Motors Acceptance Corp, this week launched its fourth securitisation through Barclays Capital. The £195m deal, RMAC 2000 - NS2 plc, tapped strong investor demand thanks to a shortage of prime sterling MBS, helping it to price at tighter spreads than non-conforming issuers have enjoyed for the last year.

UNITED Bank of Switzerland this week executed the first collateralised loan obligation in Switzerland, transferring the credit risk on Sfr2.5bn of its loans to small and medium sized Swiss companies using a synthetic, leveraged structure. Swiss Bank Corp opened the public Swiss securitisation market in 1998 with a securitisation of its residential mortgages, and indicated at the time that it would become a regular MBS issuer - but no more deals emerged.

If investors are to be believed, the growth in the volume of credit research distributed by investment banks has outpaced even the growth of the corporate bond market.

With France's obligations foncières now competing for investors' attention, the German Pfandbrief market is coming under closer scrutiny than ever before. Comparisons with the French product are highlighting structural elements of the Pfandbrief market that were previously unquestioned.