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BA ASIA has launched a further refinancing for a Chinese state company this year. The deal is a $200m 364 day L/C facility for COFCO Capital Corp, the window company for China National Cereals, Oils & Foodstuffs Import & Export Corp, which is providing a guarantee. BA Asia has attempted to dampen the negative sentiment displayed towards China credits by offering a massive hike in pricing from the deal completed in 1998.

Turkey Export Credit Bank of Turkey (Turk Eximbank) over the next few days should mandate a consortium of banks to arrange the refinancing of its $120m (increased from $100m) one year trade financing that was signed on July 16, 1998.

European retail investors looking for yield close to home have driven issuance in the Norwegian krone sector to record levels - the last week of July, for example, saw three new issues totalling Nkr1.3bn. The two other major Nordic currency markets, the Danish krone and the Swedish krona, have suffered from uncertainty over their governments' attitudes towards Emu membership.

The $121m sale of stock in Polish telecom group Netia has reached a successful conclusion after a difficult marketing period, demonstrating that investor sentiment to emerging markets remains fragile.

The advent of the single European currency has led to a surge in issuance from the Nordic region. Investors across Europe have lapped up the opportunity to buy the credits of leading industry players from the Nordic countries, adding new names to their growing corporate debt portfolios.

Market commentary: Compiled by Glenn Blackley,

n De Nationale Investeringsbank Rating: Aa3/AA+

Hungarian mobile phone operator Pannon GSM this week became the first Hungarian corporate to tap the international bond markets with the launch of a Eu125m five year issue via ING Barings. The Ba3/BB- rated high yield offering, for which Lehman Brothers was joint lead manager, was issued via the company's Dutch-registered financing vehicle Pannon Finance BV.

Hungarian mobile phone operator Pannon GSM this week became the first Hungarian corporate to tap the international bond markets with the launch of a Eu125m five year issue via ING Barings. The Ba3/BB- rated high yield offering, for which Lehman Brothers was joint lead manager, was issued via the company's Dutch-registered financing vehicle Pannon Finance BV.

Mark Vincent is leaving Bankgesellschaft Berlin to go to ABN Amro, from August 23. He had previously worked at Union Bank of Switzerland. His new role will focus on origination in UK and Ireland. In the ABN Amro team, Brenda Mills is head of syndications. She also worked at UBS. Lucy Konie has moved to the Libor salesforce in the fixed income division of ABN Amro, from the London based loan syndication team.

MANDATED arranger Sumitomo has surprised and pleased the loan market this week with the pricing on its Eu150m five year EIB guarantee facility for Telekomunikacjia Polska Spolka Akcyna (TPSA), the Polish telecoms company. TPSA is carrying a guarantee commission of 70bp on this unfunded credit. Arrangers are being offered 40bp for take-and-hold commitments of Eu20m, while co-arrangers are offered 30bp for Eu10m. The deal was launched on July 22, and banks are asked to reply by August 5.

Bankers' emotions were mixed yesterday afternoon (Thursday) after leaving the sub-underwriters' meeting in Paris for Elf Acquitaine's Eu18bn committed credit facility backing its counter bid for Totalfina. They had just been introduced to the deal's full fee and margin structure after one week of intense speculation during which arrangers and bookrunners Banque Nationale de Paris, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Crédit Agricole Indosuez had given little detail away. Speculation had bred fear that the margins and fees were going to be too tight for the Eu1bn commitment required to bag a senior role in the deal.