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THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the largest ever syndicated loan for a European corporate -- a $25bn credit facility backing Olivetti's audacious $58bn bid for Telecom Italia -- triggered intense debate among bankers this week about the Euroloan market's capacity.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of the largest ever syndicated loan for a European corporate -- a $25bn credit facility backing Olivetti's audacious $58bn bid for Telecom Italia -- triggered intense debate among bankers this week about the Euroloan market's capacity.

David Rimmer, director and head of syndications, is to leave Bank Austria Creditanstalt International by the end of March, after completing his two year contract with the Austrian bank. Helmut Bernkopf, assistant director of syndications, will become head of the department, but it is unlikely that the bank will add to the team.

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* European Investment Bank Rating: Aaa/AAA

THE EASTERN German port of Rostock provided a new type of asset for Europe's high yield market this week when it launched a Eu50m 10 year deal via Merrill Lynch. The issue, which paid a coupon of 9.875% to yield a spread of around 620bp over Bunds, provided welcome diversification to the media and telecoms related financings that have been the mainstay of the non-investment grade corporate market.

WARBURG Dillon Read had the sale of William Hill, the UK's second largest bookmaker, pulled from out of its hands last weekend in a move that threw a shadow over prospects for mid-cap UK stocks. The bank had tried to float the company publicly on behalf of Nomura Principal Finance, but instead the vendor decided, after rejecting a reduced offer price, to switch to a sale to two private

RAILTRACK Plc has returned to the Euroloan market with a £1bn deal that will refinance its £2.35bn pre-privatisation capex facility that was lead arranged by Barlcays in 1996. Its latest foray is being arranged by Barclays, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, HSBC and JP Morgan.

A STRONG rally in the US markets early in the week made conditions more favourable for new offerings as investors returned to the market with renewed appetite after last week's lull. Salomon Smith Barney got off to a good start when it completed the IPO for consultancy firm The Corporate Executive Board on Monday. The bank priced the offering at $19, the top of its $17-$19 indicated range. A total of 8,187,200 shares were sold to investors -- 1.6m of those outside the US. All the stock was offered by existing shareholders.

Sweden Expect news next week of the winners of the mandate to arrange a Skr800m facility for Modern Times. Proceeds will be used to roll in existing facilities. However, part of the loan will be new money. Most bankers expect Nordbanken to be one of the arrangers.

LATIN Americans borrowers' hopes of issuing in the euro-denominated bond market suffered a setback this week when the Republic of Colombia postponed a Eu300m to Eu500m offering. Colombia and its lead managers, Paribas and Warburg Dillon Read, had been airing the idea of a five or seven year offering over the past few weeks, but found that even a hefty launch spread in the low to mid 600bp region was not enough to draw out investors.

THE SUPPLY of new equity from Nordic markets will increase in the next few months, with small and mid-cap firms adding to a list of the region's larger corporate and banking names. Local firms are set to pick up a number of the mandates, with Alfred Berg announcing two deals in the last week. The firm will run the books on the sale of shares in Kungsleden, the Swedish property group. The firm will raise around $100m from the flotation, which is due to take place in March.