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A successful $250m bond offering by Kimberly Clark de Mexico revived underwriters' confidence this week that US investors are eager to buy the top emerging market corporate credits. The 10 year 144A deal, led by Salomon Smith Barney, was launched at 312.5bp over Treasuries.

The offering of stock in Egyptian conglomerate Lakah Group, led by Nomura, has proved to be a difficult sell. Bankers say investors have been affected by the combination of weaker global stockmarkets, investor fatigue with the new issue market and the realisation that money is pouring faster into the emerging markets of Asia, Latin America and central Europe than it is into the Middle East.

El Salvador Citibank NA has won the mandate to arrange a $100m six year term loan for Telefónica El Salvador.

The Republic of Lebanon this week mandated Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to lead manage the B1/BB-/BB- rated Middle East sovereign's next foray in the Euromarkets. A probable $700m or so equivalent issue in dollars and euros is to be launched in September.

ING Barings has agreed to buy UBS's four asset backed commercial paper conduits for an undisclosed sum, in an unprecedented deal that simultaneously takes one of the leading European conduit banks out of the market, and catapults a relative minnow to the top of the table. UBS made plentiful and creative use of its conduits during the 1990s, but the business fell foul of the merger with SBC, which led to a radical rethink of the bank's investment banking activities. In January this year Warburg Dillon Read's outgoing chief executive Hans de Gier told investors that the balance sheet intensive ABCP business was now "non-core". UBS announced the sale of its conduits in the spring.

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter this week sold its third securitisation of Italian non-performing mortgages, still without a full public launch but with more publicity than the first two transactions. The deal is backed by 799 loans that Morgan Stanley acquired from Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna in December 1998, and a single asset the bank bought from Istituto Italiano di Credito Fondiario in June this year.

Spanish airline Iberia will shortly bring a new asset class to the European structured finance market - the enhanced equipment trust certificate. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which pioneered EETCs in the US, has structured the Eu195m transaction, but will not be leading the deal - another bank won the underwriting mandate in a competitive auction.

n Deutsche Bank reinforced its hegemony in the Portuguese ABS market this week, introducing yet another new issuer - Interbanco, a specialist car finance bank owned by the SGC SGPS group. Silk Finance Ltd issued Eu101.2m of bonds in two tranches, rated AAA and A by Fitch IBCA and Standard & Poor's. Class 'A', worth Eu92.1m, priced at 35bp over three month Euribor with a 4.5 year average life, while the Eu9.1m of 'B' notes came at 75bp over with an average life of 6.9 years. Price talk last week had been 32bp area and 70bp area.

Citibank fulfilled months of eager expectation by issuing its first credit card securitisation in euros this week. Bookrunner Salomon Smith Barney and joint leads CDC Marchés and WestLB launched Eu1bn of five year fixed rate bonds in a bid to set a European benchmark for the US issuer's credit.

Barclays Capital took whole business securitisation into a new sector this week, launching £135m of bonds for Wightlink Ltd, which operates three ferry routes from the south coast of England to the Isle of Wight. The Isle of Wight routes are unusual among ferry services, in that the island is too small and too close to the mainland to attract scheduled air services, while building a bridge or tunnel is viewed as uneconomic, and is opposed by local residents.

The measurement of operational risk (OR) earned considerable attention in the wake of huge losses at investment banks such as Barings and Sumitomo.

Manila Electric (Meralco) will begin roadshows for a debut international bond offering in Singapore next Tuesday, pre-marketing a 10 year fixed rate transaction. Contrary to most expectations, the group has maintained an ambitious launch schedule, selecting its lead managers, overhauling its mortgage trust indenture (MTI) and securing ratings within the space of just two months.