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INTERNATIONAL lead arrangers ABN Amro, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Paribas and SG are near to reaching financial close on the Sidi Krir independent power project. A revised schedule for the deal should be finalised next week. The project is sponsored by InterGen, First Arabian Development & Investment and Kato Development. The financing comprises four project tranches and one guaranteed equity bridge loan. The deal will be funded in both international and local currencies but all proceeds will be drawn in dollars. Arrangers of the local debt tranches are National Bank of Egypt, Commercial International Bank and MI Bank.

STANDARD Bank is to mandate between 10 and 12 banks over the next five days to arrange a credit that will refinance its $175m 364 day revolving credit that expires on July 2. Most bankers expect the mandated banks to underwrite about $15m each and the borrower to raise as much as it can from the retail market.

* Abbey National Treasury Services plc Guarantor: Abbey National plc

TELEFONOS de Mexico (Telmex), Mexico's biggest telephone company, yesterday launched a $1bn five year convertible bond, the largest ever issued by a Latin American corporate, as an alternative to plans to tap the fixed income markets. The bonds, which can be converted for stock at $94.92 per ADR, were sold to refinance debt and fund expansion.

THE SALE of stock in Ireland's national telecommunications operator, Telecom Eireann, looks set to be an overwhelming success. Ireland's ministry of public enterprise and global co-ordinators AIB Capital Markets and Merrill Lynch are mid-way through the pre-marketing period and report a very positive response from retail and institutional investors.

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* Export-Import Bank of Japan Guarantor: Government of Japan

* Argentaria Global Finance Ltd Guarantor: Argentaria, Caja Postal y Banco Hipotecario

IN THE continued absence of new swap driven, dollar denominated bonds, swap spreads meandered this week. Interbank trading was erratic and illiquid. By Thursday, the 10 year swap mid-market level was around 79.5bp while the five year mid-market was about 65.5bp. These levels are fractionally softer than a week ago. The dollar new issue market has been largely uneventful for several weeks and the underlying tone is still far from propitious. While swap spreads were largely unchanged this week, secondary spreads in the US corporate market are about 4bp wider. This development further restricts arbitrage into floating rate funds for US names.

WEST BROMWICH Building Society is set to return to the loan market with a £250m credit, arranged by Barclays and Bayerische Landesbank. The five year deal has been launched to co-arrangers, with banks asked to commit £20m for a fee of 8bp. The margin is thought to be 17.5bp. Some £100m of the transaction refinances existing debt, with the balance being new money.

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FORD MOTOR Credit took the concept of benchmark corporate bond issuance to a new level this week when it announced a US agency style programme through which it will raise up to $10bn in 1999.