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FRANCE TELECOM has yet again sparked speculation that it is about to tap the syndicated loan market for a jumbo credit with the appointment of Credit Suisse First Boston, NM Rothschild & Son and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter as advisers for its potential bid for the UK cellular phone operator Orange. Talk of a large syndicated loan for France Télécom has circulated since Vodafone Airtouch won control of Mannesmann, the German phone operator that bought out Orange in the last quarter of 1999. Twice this year it seemed as if the French telco was on the verge of tapping the market for a blockbuster transaction. Each time, France Télécom and its bankers distanced themselves from any deal.

TV-BASED web browser service Freedomland-ITN is planning to list on the Nuovo Mercato in two weeks' time via Banca Leonardo, as issuance on the Italian growth market steps up following the success of e.Biscom last week. Freedomland is just one year old and offers a service of about 20,000 web pages through a TV set. The company, which promises to bring the internet to thousands of families without PCs across Italy and Spain, is seeking to raise Eu342m-Eu455m from the IPO.

Two big financings for predatory German corporates are in early stages, as C&N, part owned by airline Lufthansa and part by retailer Karstadt Quelle, launched a £1.3bn offer for Thomson Travel of the UK. Commerzbank, which along with Lazard Brothers is advising C&N, has won the mandate to arrange debt financing. One banker thought the loan would total DM3bn at this stage, but this was not confirmed by the arranger.

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.

HSBC Bank Plc, the former Midland Bank, this week launched the first public securitisation to emerge from the giant HSBC Group, with a £519m collateralised loan obligation backed by its loans to UK corporates. The deal removes one of the most high profile names from the dwindling list of top commercial banks yet to adopt securitisation as a tool of balance sheet management. It also underlines the fact that changes in retail savings patterns are sharpening banks' enthusiasm for new sources of funds.

IBM this week established its name for the first time in the global arena with a ¥100bn three year transaction which provided the borrower with a successful antidote to its troublesome euro denominated transaction launched two weeks earlier. The borrower expressed delight at the ease of execution of the bond and its distribution. "Compared to our recent experience in the euro currency, this was an extremely smooth process," said Cassio Calil, assistant treasurer at IBM.

India BA Asia has launched the $180m, one year loan for Oil & Natural Gas Corp into general syndication.

India BA Asia has launched the $180m, one year loan for Oil & Natural Gas Corp into general syndication.

Argentina Lead arranger ABN Amro has completed syndication of the $181m project finance loan for Pluspetrol SA.

MERRILL Lynch is confident of a successful co-arranging phase of the £220m of senior debt backing Cinven's LBO of Odeon Cinemas, after hearing that all the banks approached to join at that level are taking the deal to credit. Co-arrangers are expected to commit to the facility by April 19.

Australia Arrangers ABN Amro Australia, ANZ Investment Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia are preparing a debt financing for Australian Pipeline Trust. The deal will be around A$800m and should be launched later this month.