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* Scottish & Southern Energy plc Rating: Aa3/A+

CSFB HAS completed the IPO for Agora SA, the Polish media group, with the book more than 15 times oversubscribed and dominated by high quality investors. At issue price Agora raised over $73m through the sale of 7,870,500 shares. Strong appetite for Agora stock overcame uncertain market conditions and allowed the lead to price the shares at Z36 ($9.30). The demand fed through into healthy aftermarket trading. The shares moved up to $12 on the first day, before settling around $11.

DOLLAR and euro swap spreads tightened in line with weaker government bond markets towards the end of the week. However, secondary corporate spreads have also contracted, so arbitrage possibilities have not been diminished drastically. On Thursday, dollar swap traders in New York spoke of the possibility of several new 10 year swap-driven global issues being priced early next week. European borrowers are also believed to be looking at longer dated issues (beyond 10 years) in the dollar market.

MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter this week completed the sale of stock in Synstar, the computer services group, in the largest IPO in the UK market since last summer, when Goldman Sachs launched the sale of stock in Computacenter. The London market has not been receptive to IPOs in recent weeks, as shown by last week's pulling of the William Hill flotation, and salesmen say that domestic and continental European investors are becoming selective about which sectors they choose to buy.

Mexico * Nacional Financiera SNC (Grand Cayman)

* CIR International SA Guarantor: CIR -- Compagnie Industriali Riunite SpA

FEDERAL Home Loan Banks continued its massive funding spree at the short end of the dollar curve this week when it issued $7bn of new paper. FHLB issued $3bn of three year global bonds on Tuesday and $4bn of two year bonds yesterday (Thursday). The deals bring to $13bn from just four transactions the amount of funding the US agency has raised in two and three year dollars this year.

ABN AMRO, Barclays, Chase Manhattan, Deutsche Bank London and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson have launched the $3bn jumbo senior debt package for National Grid Group plc and National Grid Company plc to co-arrangers and underwriters. The financing backs the acquisition of New England Electric System and Eastern Utilities Associates, the refinancing of New England Electric System's debt and will be used for general corporate purposes of National Grid Group and National Grid Company

GOLDMAN Sachs pulled off a highly successful sale of Orange stock this week, raising $500m for the vendor, Hutchison Whampoa, and earning praise from the market. The diversified Hong Kong industrial and holding group asked the US firm to take hard underwriting on the sale of a 4.1% stake in Orange's equity capital.

FEDERAL Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan proved his powers of persuasion once again this week when hawkish comments during his Humphrey-Hawkins testimony sparked a sell-off in government bond markets. From Tuesday, when Greenspan hinted that the next move in US interest rates may be upwards, yields on US Treasuries began rising and the long bond sliced through the 5.5% level to reach its highest yield since last August. After initially resisting the negative move, European markets followed the US lower and the yield on the 10 year Bund rose to 4%.

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ISRAEL Electric Corporation launched its largest ever international bond this week -- a $500m 10 year Yankee/144A issue via Salomon Smith Barney. Despite a challenging new issue environment yesterday (Thursday), with both the US equity and Treasury markets trading sharply off, Salomon increased the issue to $500m from an original $400m target.