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THE FRENCH Trésor will shortly complete its sale of stock in France Télécom, launched two weeks ago on a fast track timetable to take advantage of the recent recovery in international and local demand for stocks. Global co-ordinators Banque Paribas and BNP have chosen not to indulge in a lengthy premarketing campaign -- trusting instead to the performance of the operators' existing shares in Paris as well as the keen interest in defensive stocks from established markets.

Royal Bank of Canada Europe has appointed Ralf Hohwieler as head of its London-based loan syndications unit. The unit is part of RBC's corporate and investment banking division which is headed in Europe by Colin Sturgeon. Hohwieler was previously relationship manager for European automobile, pharmaceutical and German clients for the bank.

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STANDARD & Poor's this week assigned credit ratings to the Republic of Bulgaria and the country's capital, Sofia -- both of which are looking to make their debuts in the international bond markets next year. The sovereign was assigned a B rating with a positive outlook -- in line with the B2 rating Bulgaria had already secured from Moody's Investors Service and one notch below the B+ awarded by Fitch IBCA earlier this year.

THE RUSSIAN government's attempts to prevent the country's economy collapsing under the weight of a massive debt burden appeared to be making slow but sure progress this week. On Thursday the Russian authorities secured preliminary approval for a one-off rescheduling on $26bn of Soviet era debt owed to the London Club of commercial creditors, while the Russian finance ministry confirmed that it had transferred the $46.25m of funds necessary to meet the interest payment on its $1bn 9.25% November 2001 Eurobond that falls due today (Friday).

THE TURNAROUND in US investors' appetite for higher yielding corporate bonds continued this week when retailer Saks Inc launched a 12 year bond at a tighter spread than a 10 year deal it issued only weeks ago, and UK telco Cable & Wireless brought a blow-out $700m Yankee. Saks surprised the market with its new $600m two tranche issue, selling $250m of 7.5% 12 year bonds at 275bp over Treasuries and a $350m 7.25% portion at 250bp, led by Salomon Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch.

Finland Merita and Leonia have signed the Eu170m credit for Helsingin Puhelin. The loan has a maturity of five years and a margin of 17.5bp over Libor.

GERMAN issuers are rushing to take advantage of their soaring stockmarket by raising equity capital before investors stop buying for the year. "It is unlikely that investors in the euro bloc will take up stocks after December 11 with the end of the year so closely followed by the first phase of the euro," says one German banker.

SG HAS REPRICED the Ffr3bn acquisition facility for Beaufour-Ipsen, just days before the co-arrangers' commitment deadline. According to the arranger, the decision to increase the margin was because the borrower wanted to ensure that the quality of banks in its syndicate was high. Beaufour-Ipsen is a first time borrower and wanted to begin developing relationships with lenders and so wanted to start off on the right foot, according to SG.

Singapore has recently stepped up a gear in its drive to become Asia's premier international financial centre -- unveiling a raft of initiatives to stimulate the domestic capital markets, encourage greater participation from international borrowers and investors and establish the island state as the leading regional hub for fund management and investment banking. Some say the renewed drive has been sparked by the Asian crisis, which has drawn attention to Singapore's relative strength and stability and left many Asian economies with vast financing needs. Others say it is because the Singapore government misjudged the likely effect of Hong Kong's handover to China, and is having to battle harder than ever to compete with its long-standing rival to the north. Whatever the motive, there is no doubting the extent of Singapore's ambitions, the progress that has already been made and the speed with which the government is prepared to act to facilitate its aims. But what is less clear is whether a city famed for its authoritarian attitudes can ever develop the laisser-faire culture necessary for international capital markets to thrive -- or whether there is enough business available to justify international financial institutions stepping up their presence. Jackie Horne reports.

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