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FIAT, the Italian car maker, is likely to tap the global loan market for up to $4bn over the next three weeks to finance its acquisition of Case Corporation of the US.A select number of banks have been in secret discussions with the car giant over the past month about a possible syndicated loan, but no mandate has yet been awarded. However, Fiat is likely to invite banks to bid individually over the next week and it plans to push the deal through senior stages of syndication before the end of July.

FOLLOWING last week's successful flotation of Future Publishing via Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the UK market is poised to host two more exciting IPOs. The US lead manager priced Future shares at 385p before seeing them move up to an immediate 9.35% premium. This week the shares moved up further to trade well bid at around 425p. The aftermarket support for Future shares is an encouraging sign for a market that has seen little follow-through, even for new issues that have been well bid.

CSFB, DEUTSCHE Bank, BBV, Argentaria and La Caixa have completed the IPO of Telefónica's yellow pages subsidiary, Telefónica Publicidad & Información (TPI). The deal was greeted with enthusiasm from retail and institutional investors, allowing the lead firms to price the shares at Eu15 and the stock to immediately trade up to Eu19. Some 17,075,510 shares were sold to international institutional investors with 16,378,184 going to retail and 4,094,500 sold to Spanish institutional investors. There is also a 5,364,034 greenshoe option for institutional buyers that will be executed on a 5:6 basis to international and local buyers.

Market commentary: Compiled by Jim Webber,

Huntsman ICI braved a bearish and volatile market this week to price and place its dual tranche $806m equivalent high yield bond at the tight end of price talk. But with volatile markets combining with widening secondary spreads and cash outflows from US mutual funds, not all deals met with such success and the precarious environment produced more than one casualty.

Huntsman ICI defies choppy markets to sell $800m+ high yielder

Dollar swap spreads have continued to mirror secondary corporate spreads. As the latter have firmed or softened, swap spreads have tightened or widened. On Thursday, the 10 year market was 84.75bp/85bp while five years was 70bp/71bp. Not only are swap spreads following the general direction of credit spreads, bond desks are paying fixed in the swap market to hedge unsold inventory, said dealers.

Bangladesh Sponsor AES has mandated ANZ Grindlays, Bayerische Hypo-und Vereinsbank, Citibank, Crédit Agricole Indosuez and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson as lead arrangers on its Haripur gas fired independent power project (IPP).

The Republic of Kazakhstan is set to host a series of investor presentations in the first week of July in support of a debut euro offering. Probable destinations are London, Frankfurt, Milan, Paris and Geneva. Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro will lead manage the issue for the B1/B+/BB- rated central Asian sovereign, its first foray into the international bond markets since October 1997.

BARCLAYS and Deutsche Bank have overseen the signing of the Eu650m revolving credit for Adam Opel. The five year loan replaces Adam Opel's DM1.26bn revolving credit that was established in December 1994. It is available for use by Adam Opel AG, General Motors Coordination Center NV and Opel Eisenach GmbH, with Adam Opel acting as guarantor.

Nigeria A decision is expected imminently by sponsors Agip, Elf, Nigerian National Petroleum Company and Shell on the advisory and structuring mandate for a $260m project financing to fund the construction of two liquefied natural gas tankers to transport fuel from Nigeria to western Europe.

ARRANGERS of the $130m one year pre-export financing for Akbank have closed syndication oversubscribed, allowing the borrower to increase the facility to $150m. The strong showing in syndication vindicates many bankers who were opposed to Akbank self-arranging its previous facility - a $100m deal that was completed at the very end of 1998.