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WARBURG Dillon Read is arranging a Eu1bn Euro-MTN programme for Banco Carige (Cassa di Risparmio di Genoa). The facility, due to be signed next Tuesday, will be the Italian regional bank's first foray into the international bond markets. "We want to diversify our funding resources," said Emilio Chiesi, managing director in treasury at Carige. "Especially after the introduction of the euro, we believe, despite being a regional bank, we need to explore new markets.

DEUTSCHE Bank boosted the growing market for capital securities this week with a $600m perpetual callable tier 1 capital issue. The market has flourished this year, with deals for borrowers from a range of industries, as issuers have sought to take advantage of investors' appetite for higher yielding securities. Dresdner will follow Deutsche to the market early next week with $1bn and Eu500m deals, following the completion of US and European roadshows this week.

BOOKRUNNER SG is nearing the conclusion of the French government's sale of stock in Aerospatiale Matra, the country's national defence group. The deal involves a 17% divestment by the Trésor and has inspired extremely strong demand from both the French market and from international institutional buyers. The government is selling 65.2m shares at an indicated price range of between Eu17 and Eu19.50. Of these, 30.9m are targeted for local retail investors and 34.3m for institutional buyers, while 7.24m will go to employees.

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DOLLAR swap spreads went into a nosedive during the early part of the week, reflecting the cumulative pressures of recent new issue business, an ailing Treasury market, easier financing conditions in the repo market and generally improved global credit. By the end of the week the tightening bias was hidden by hefty rolls into both the new five year and the new 10 year note, but by Wednesday spreads were well below pre-Russian crisis

GOLDMAN Sachs' mandate to advise Scottish Power on the best way to maximise the proceeds of a sale of its telecom business has excited an already overheated sector. The second and third quarters of the year have long been expected to be dominated by primary issues from fixed line operators, and mobile telephony groups and European investors are already positioning themselves for these sales.

GLOBAL co-ordinator Goldman Sachs has launched the sale of stock in Société Européenne de Communication (SEC). The pan-European telecoms provider is seeking to raise around Eu313.5m in new equity capital to fund the new company's expansion across Europe. The deal will involve the sale of 95m class 'B' shares, with a greenshoe option of 14.15m additional shares.

THE BULGARIAN capital Sofia this week became the country's first issuer to tap the Euromarkets since 1989 with the launch of a Eu50m three year issue. Lead managed by Paribas, the pioneering B (S&P) rated offering featured an eye-catching 9.75% coupon to give a yield of 9.95% and a spread of 700bp over the 4.5% May 2002 Bobl on an issue/fixed re-offer price of 99.50.

THE REPUBLIC of South Africa this week made a well received return to the dollar markets for the first time since June 1997 with the launch of a $500m 10 year SEC-registered global bond. Lead managed by Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter the Baa3/BB+/BB rated issue had a 9.125% coupon to yield 9.18% or a spread of 370bp over the W/I 10 year US Treasury, on an issue fixed re-offer price of 99.645.

* European Investment Bank

SPANISH companies are expected to launch a flood of corporate equity in the coming weeks. The Madrid market has yet to recover from last summer's financial crisis, with the IPO market effectively remained closed since then. Analysts had hoped that a period of calm in the early months of this year would repair market confidence, but continuing stockmarket volatility has jolted the confidence of many potential issuers.

* Halifax plc Rating: Aa1/AA