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BOOKBUILDING for the Lit856m-Lit1.085bn (Eu228m-Eu290m) IPO of the monopoly Lithuanian telecoms operator Lietuvos Telekomas opened on Monday. The success of the deal, which will be the first major equity issue from Lithuania, will provide an important indication of how technology issues from emerging Europe will fare for the rest of the year. The offer, which is managed by Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and CAIB, consists of 285,499,891 shares. These represent government holding company VTF's remaining 35% stake in the company. The retail tranche will be listed on the National Stock Exchange of Lithuania and the institutional tranche listed as Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) - each worth 10 shares - on the London Stock Exchange.

Egypt The first stage of syndication of the $225m acquisition financing for Orascom Telecoms is in full swing. Chase Manhattan and Citibank are jointly arranging the deal.

The long drought of equity issuance from Russia looks set to end with the launch of the $250m-$400m IPO of Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) at the end of next week. Bookrunners Deutsche Bank and ING Barings will sell 15m American Depository Shares (ADSs) in the New York listing, which will test the appetite of international investors for Russian paper for the first time since the country defaulted in 1998.

The long drought of equity issuance from Russia looks set to end with the launch of the $250m-$400m IPO of Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) at the end of next week. Bookrunners Deutsche Bank and ING Barings will sell 15m American Depository Shares (ADSs) in the New York listing, which will test the appetite of international investors for Russian paper for the first time since the country defaulted in 1998.

POLAND's Netia will today (Friday) price its Eu113m Warsaw IPO and Nasdaq secondary offering having fulfilled its objective of attracting domestic shareholders. DLJ was bookrunner for the deal, in which 4.5m shares (or ADSs - each ADS equals one share) were sold at a price of $25 per ADS or Z110 a share, from a Nasdaq close yesterday (Thursday) of $25-3/4. Half was sold to the majority shareholder of Netia, Sweden's Telia - which is itself roadshowing its IPO.

* Commerzbank completed the Eu107m IPO of pioneering airship manufacturer Cargolifter last week, although it had to price near the bottom of the Eu14-Eu18 range and the shares fell on the first day of trading. The deal was priced at Eu15 on May 26. A banker close to the deal said that Eu18 would have been optimistic: "Eu17 and Eu16 were in the range of what was feasible, maybe slightly less comfortably, but in this market it was not appropriate."

Lithuania Lithuania Gas, the state owned natural gas utility, is looking for Eu50m through a three year placement via lead manager Credit Suisse First Boston - subject to approval by the cabinet.

* Ernst & Young has made Philip Moschetti a director in corporate finance, based in Milan. "I will be concentrating on project finance and securitisation," said Moschetti. "I will work on Italian regional municipalities and utilities in southern Europe."

Market report: Compiled by Glenn Blackley, RBC DS Global Markets, Australia. Tel: +61 2 9373 0431

LEBANESE bank Credit Libanais placed a $55m three year FRN deal this week via lead manager Merrill Lynch, heralding a flurry of issues from Lebanon which will compete with each other in the market. The republic itself is planning a major issue, for which it has mandated Merill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Also planning transactions are Bank Byblos through lead manager UBS Warburg and Bank of Beirut via CSFB.

Mandated arrangers Chase Manhattan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter went out to six banks to join the £2.5bn revolver for NTL, backing its UK acquisition of Cable and Wireless assets, and have found a 100% hit rate. Coming into the lead arranging group are Bank of America, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Citibank/SSSB, Deutsche and Royal Bank of Scotland. Each was asked to underwrite £300m, with an expected final take of £150m.

Denmark Arranger LB Kiel has launched a Dkr150m three year credit for Nordvest Bank into syndication. The deal is priced at 22.5bp over Libor and carries a commitment fee of 11.25bp.