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Jumbo issuance leaped to Eu8bn this week as improved arbitrage opportunities prompted several mortgage banks to launch liquid transactions. The deals confirmed the changing nature of the jumbo primary market - many of the leading issuers of jumbos appear to have accepted the need for new issues to be bookbuilt with a syndicate of underwriters below the bookrunner level.

Peru ABN Amro Bank NV and BankBoston NA have been mandated to arrange a $200m four year facility for Telefónica del Perú. The borrower was last in the market in December last year when it received a $300m loan which was partly provided under a CAF umbrella.

Lucent Technologies made a hugely successful debut in the international bond markets this week when it launched a $1.36bn 30 year global bond via Bear Stearns. Everything had pointed to a successful transaction before launch. Lucent is at the cutting edge of the hottest sector in the international financial markets - telecommunications - and is one of the most popular credits in the US bond market.

The United Mexican States has offered to restructure the contentious $2.7bn emergency credit line it received in 1997, in a bid to sweeten its tainted relationships with the banking community. Last year the UMS outraged the 33 banks involved in the deal by drawing on the 18 month liquidity facility in circumstances the lenders did not feel justified the emergency tag placed on it.

Goldman Sachs is expected to launch a $2bn exchangeable bond for LVMH, the French luxury goods group, backed by shares in Diageo. The new capital may pave the way for a full bid for Gucci, the Italian fashion group with which the company is currently embroiled in a complex web of legal battles. The disputes revolve around a proposal from LVMH to establish a trading relationship with Gucci following the revalation that the French company had built up a 34.4% stake in Gucci.

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Egypt National Bank of Egypt has mandated Citibank to co-ordinate its $150m facility.

LEAD MANAGER Deutsche Bank has completed the sale of stock in Morphosys, the first German biotech company to list on the Neuer Markt. The company attracted exceptional demand for its IPO, and trading was unaffected by the tremors that rocked the market mid-week and by the gathering storm that led to the resignation of the country's finance minister Oskar Lafontaine.

THE GERMAN Länder this week launched their latest jumbo and received an all too familiar response from market participants. The only surprise was the market's muted reaction. But even that offered little solace to the German states involved in the transaction, signalling only that after a series of unsuccessful deals bankers and investors have learned what to expect. "This is a never-ending story," said the head of syndicate at one German bank. "They talk about launching a strategic deal, but it's never going to happen."

Merrill Lynch has hired Matthew Collins to head its European leveraged finance group's origination activities. Collins, who will be based in London, will focus his efforts on syndicated high yield bonds for European-based financial sponsors and strategic M&A related financings.