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Spain's fledgling mortgage bond market looks set to take off in the coming weeks with Caja Madrid, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria all poised to launch cédulas hipotecarias. The banks are hoping to place the market on a sounder footing following Argentaria's disappointing attempt earlier this year to establish cédulas hipotecarias as an international asset class in a Eu1bn transaction.

The market was abuzz this week with talk that Fiat will finally be coming to market with a jumbo facility. Bankers say Chase Manhattan and Credit Suisse First Boston are on the verge of being officially mandated as arrangers. Officials at both institutions were unavailable for comment. But market talk suggests an official mandate will emerge on Monday, and that the two banks will approach senior relationship banks soon after.

GLOBAL co-ordinators CSFB and JP Morgan have launched the Eu2bn to Eu2.5bn divestment of Rhône-Poulenc's chemicals subsidiary, Rhodia. The bulk of this transaction has been structured as a global offer to be completed in the second week of October and will involve a fully registered US offer as the stock obtained a New York listing last summer.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Eu3.5bn Global Pfandbrief series 6

DePfa took its latest step away from the traditions of the Pfandbrief market this week when, through nimble swap operations that ensured Euribor minus funding, the mortgage bank priced its Eu3.5bn global superjumbo at an intended 52bp over Bunds - despite a 2bp to 3bp swap spread tightening between launch and pricing. German mortgage banks have always been among the most sensitive borrowers to any move in swap spreads and subsequent changes in the funding levels they can achieve. Such an arbitrage driven approach has in the past given jumbo issuers the reputation of being aggressive borrowers, as they have sought to ensure the finest possible pricing.

Renewed dollar buying by Asian accounts, first seen in last week's transactions for the World Bank, Denmark and KfW, encouraged further Eurodollar issuance this week. Significant among the Eurodollar deals was a $1bn five year transaction for the Republic of Portugal. The EU sovereign has been absent from the dollar sector since 1993 but, although offering considerable rarity value, the pricing was considered tight at 73bp over Treasuries.

Hungary Chemicals plant BorsodChem will close syndication of its Eu100m seven year term loan today (Friday) early next week. The deal is oversubscribed.

Ecuador, keen to buy more time for a voluntary restructuring its debt, is planning to make the $96m interest payment on its Brady bonds before the end of this month. Government officials told Reuters that the government has made provisions for the payment, which was deferred in August for 30 days until September 29.

MANDATED arrangers Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Deutsche Bank have launched general syndication of the Eu600m revolver for Electricidade de Portugal (EdP), despite raising an oversubscription in the first round. General syndication offers three levels. Co-arrangers earn 11bp for Eu25m, senior lead managers earn 9bp for Eu17.5m and managers earn 7bp for Eu10m.

Argentina n Republic of Argentina

Although new issue momentum has yet to pick up properly on Wall Street after the Labor Day holiday, more names were added this week to an already impressive pipeline and market conditions are looking good for a busy second half of September. Although the frenzy for internet stocks may have cooled recently, there are no shortage of companies coming to the market from the sector. Deutsche Banc Alex Brown is at the helm for the revived IPO from Luminant Worldwide, which filed new terms this week.

n Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA (London) Rating: A1/A-