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India The $180m one year fundraiser for Oil & Natural Gas Corp, arranged by BA Asia, has been launched to underwriters. Once the co-arranger group is formed the deal will be launched into general syndication.

That traditional investment banks are under threat in the internet era is clear: on-line brokers stealing a large chunk of share dealing and investors moving their money out of old economy stocks into internet start-ups are just two examples of how the web is changing financial markets. But perhaps the most immediate worry for banks is retaining employees tempted by the promise of making a fast buck in the dotcom world.

Goldman Sachs as sole lead bookrunner and BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole Indosuez as joint arrangers have launched one of Europe's largest leveraged financings to co-arrangers. The deal is the leveraged recapitalisation of the Elis Group, the successful French laundry company bought out in 1997 by BC Partners, the US equity sponsor. The recapitalisation involves the raising of $1bn of senior debt and $130m of subordinated debt and will enable BC Partners to take its shareholder loans out of the transaction.

Bahrain The $300m five year term loan for Arab Banking Corporation has been launched to co-arrangers, offering 45bp for tickets of $15m. The loan pays a margin of 45bp.

Netherlands * Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and ABN Amro will launch the sale of between Eu500m and Eu1.5bn of Royal Dutch shares next week following the break-up of a holding company, Dordtsche Petroleum, whose only asset is the shares. The deal is likely to be an accelerated offer, according to bankers.

The Korea Development Bank completed its debut Eu500m five year bond issue yesterday (Thursday) - forcing European investors to prove their confidence in the recovery of the Korean economy and in the process forging an important benchmark for itself and Korea. Lead managed by Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank, the offering carries an annual coupon of 6%, an issue price of 99.513% to yield 120bp over the Bobl 134 government bond.

* THE PROVINCE of Buenos Aires last Friday (March 24) issued a Eu50m tap of its outstanding Eu300m 10.75% March 2005 euro bond via Credit Suisse First Boston and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. Originally launched for Eu250m on February 17 at a yield of 10.81% and a margin of 565bp over the 4.25% February 2005 Bobl on the basis of a 99.75 fixed re-offer price, the issue was increased by Eu50m on February 21 on the same terms.

Recently barely a day has passed without the swap market hitting a new historic high and this week proved no exception. After renewed worries about the credit-worthiness of the agency sector were digested by US capital markets, the 10 year swap closed at 125bp over Treasuries on Wednesday - yet another 10 year record end-of-day price. On Thursday, the 10 year traded at 128bp over Treasuries - beating last week's record intra-day price - before slumping back to the 125bp level. Corporate spreads followed agencies and swaps. But swap dealers report that trading volume is still extremely thin and the market was moving up on only very small trades.

The prospect of a 15 year zero coupon offering for Poland's Autostrada Wielkopolska look brighter with the Polish government poised to grant a sovereign guarantee for the bond element of the Eu622m motorway project in the next few weeks. Autostrada's debut international bond would mark a major step forward in the development of the project bond market in the central and eastern European region.

DOMESTIC politics overshadowed the Republic of Turkey's return to the international bond markets this week. But lead managers BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank claimed that the B1/B/B+ rated sovereign had nevertheless won over investors to its five year euro offering. The two banks were mandated on Tuesday afternoon to run the books on a Eu500m transaction and by launch yesterday (Thursday) had managed to drum up enough orders to support a Eu600m issue.

T-ONLINE's Eu4bn IPO looks set for the Neuer Markt, having previously been expected to list on the Amtlicher Handel. The move will firmly establish the Neuer Markt as a leading exchange and is being seen as seminal by bankers involved with the deal. The company's desire to be compared with similar firms in the EuroNM index prompted its decision to list on the Neuer Markt. Just 9% of the ISP will be listed by bookrunners Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Goldman Sachs.

Telecom Italia (TI) has mandated BNP Paribas and WestLB to structure a securitisation programme backed by charges on its Italian telephone customers, and to underwrite the first issue from the vehicle. The lead managers declined to comment, but TI, the dominant provider of fixed line telephony in Italy, is believed to intend raising around Eu4bn from a repeat issuance securitisation vehicle that will likely parcel a range of assets. Market participants said the core element of collateral will be phone bills from private customers, but corporate bills may also be included, and other revenues such as equipment sales may be added if that proves feasible.