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COMVERGENT Telecommunications Ltd is preparing for a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in which the owner, RSL Communications of the US, will sell down A$400m-A$500m of stock to reduce its shareholding to zero. The issue is seen as the precursor to the far larger IPO of Vodafone Pacific that should emerge later this quarter. ComVergent is a telecoms re-seller founded in late 1996 by parent RSL with former Vodafone Pacific management. The company has rapidly built a successful business franchise, with 260,000 customers to date. Revenues are forecast to be A$380m this financial year, with an Ebitda level of A$27m.

JOINT bookrunners Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter surprised the market this week by pressing ahead with the launch of a $500m 10 year junior subordinated debt issue for the Development Bank of Singapore, despite dire underlying market conditions and the widening of spreads on both the new notes and an earlier 2009 issue. Rated Aa3/A- by Moody's and Standard & Poor's, the new deal pays a semi-annual coupon of 7.875% and has an issue/reoffer price of 99.244 to provide a spread of 216.5bp over Treasuries.

SEVERAL key figures in the loans market have switched roles this week with more set to follow. Ian Adams, who has led BNP's Hong Kong office and also chaired the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association, is heading back to London. He is tipped to be global head of syndications at Crédit Lyonnais.

Syndication of Investcorp's $350m loan has closed. The facility is arranged by Chase Manhattan and Deutsche, and was launched at $300m. It was increased after the first round of syndication, and an extra $94m was raised in general. The commitments of Chase Manhattan and Deutsche have been cut from $25m to $11.3m.

* BMW US Capital Corp Guarantor: BMW AG

France Arranger Crédit Agricole Indosuez is signing up the syndicate for mailroom equipment supplier Neopost.

* Den norske Bank AS Rating: A2/A

* IBM Corp Rating: A1/A+/AA-

YES TV stepped bravely into a turbulent market this week with a £200m techMark IPO that battled to defy the technology sell-off. The Robert Fleming-led deal kicked off on Monday as tech stocks worldwide tumbled. To add to the panic, on Wednesday the London Stock Exchange experienced its worst technology failure since the launch of new software in 1996 with a shutdown that postponed opening until late afternoon.

LEHMAN Brothers has begun a consolidated hiring push in Europe, taking on a plethora of professionals to beef up its debt capital markets operations, its equities business and its M&A capabilities. Philip Benussi, Oliver Frieser, Tanguy Boullet, Kriss Bush, Patrick Schartner and Patricia Hamzahee have joined the bank's European debt capital markets division, reporting to Benoit d'Angelin, managing director and head of European debt capital markets.