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European banking group Dexia announced this week that it will acquire US monoline bond insurer Financial Security Assurance (FSA) for around $2.6bn. The deal is driven by Dexia's ambition to become a world leader in providing finance for public sector entities. The group, comprising Crédit Local de France, Crédit Communal de Belgique and Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, claims to be the largest player in European public finance, with a 15% market share.

The mood in Latin America is strongly upbeat. The first three months of this year have seen a surge in issuance - initially by sovereigns but increasingly from a variety of corporates.

The analysis of off-market (i.e. non-par) swaps requires a set of discount factors with the effects of regular swap coupon payments removed.

ANOTHER week and another technology stock IPO breaks new price performance or volume records in Hong Kong. This week it was the turn of hongkong.com, which staged a remarkable debut on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) yesterday (Thursday), closing up some 260% at HK$6.75 from its IPO price of HK$1.88, the top end of a price range that was twice revised upwards during the international offering. Unlike the Tom.com IPO, there was no local public offering. But there was massive retail interest in the secondary market and 367m shares changed hands in a frenzy of trading activity, despite a falling market which saw the Hang Seng index drop 1.75% yesterday.

GOLDMAN SACHS and Bank of China International will begin the international roadshow for the placement of shares in PetroChina on Monday. In what has been an extremely thorough premarketing strategy, three teams have visited 274 potential investors across the globe over the past three weeks. The lead managers will present their findings to the Chinese authorities this weekend.

THE MANDATE to lead Korea Development Bank's (KDB) inaugural euro denominated transaction was awarded this week to Barclays Capital and Deutsche Bank. The two houses were chosen from a shortlist of European houses also comprising Credit Suisse First Boston, SG and Warburg Dillon Read. Given that the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) was forced to repurchase its debut euro denominated offering in the autumn of 1999 as a result of its impending privatisation, the new deal will mark the republic's only outstanding benchmark in the new currency.

THE REPUBLIC of the Philippines' reputation as an innovative and market savvy borrower looks likely to be tarnished later today (Friday) with the pricing of its $1.8bn combined cash and exchange offering. While the Ba1/BB+ credit should certainly achieve its size expectations and liability management of National Power Corporation (Napocor) debt, it is on course to do so at an extremely high price.

ASIA Pulp & Paper (APP) passed one of the most critical tests in its long history of debt financing yesterday (Thursday) with the success of a $405m transaction for its China operations. The completion of a 10 year non call five deal means that APP has been able to access long-dated funds for the first time since the beginning of the Asian financial crisis. In doing so, the Singapore-incorporated group has underlined its ability to avoid potential liquidity crises through continued refinancing of its large levels of maturing dollar debt through the international markets.

* Fannie Mae Rating: Aaa/AAA

Fitch IBCA and Duff & Phelps announced their merger this week, in a bid to acquire the critical mass necessary to compete with the dominant rating agencies, Moody's and Standard & Poor's. Fimalac SA, the diversified French company that owns Fitch IBCA, has made a recommended offer of $100 per share for DCR, valuing it at $528m.

Ford Motor Credit Corporation came with a $5bn transaction issued under its GlobLS programme via Chase, CSFB and JP Morgan. The deal was split into a $3bn five year fixed rate tranche and a $2bn three year FRN. The five year straight was priced at 105bp over the November 2004 Treasury. The commonly held opinion among swap dealers in New York was that the proceeds of this five year piece had been swapped to floating, as would be normal practice for this borrower when it raises debt for its financing vehicle. However, the leads and Ford itself declined to comment.