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AT&T DEMONSTRATED the extraordinary depth of demand for top corporate credits this week when its $8bn three tranche financing set an unprecedented landmark for the global bond market.

AT&T DEMONSTRATED the extraordinary depth of demand for top corporate credits this week when its $8bn three tranche financing set an unprecedented landmark for the global bond market. The long awaited deal broke several records -- it was the biggest corporate bond financing in history, while the 10 and 30 year tranches created the largest ever single corporate debt issues.

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THE CRUCIAL FIRST phase of Olivetti's record Eu22.5bn loan -- gaining Eu1bn sub-underwriting commitments from the world's top lenders -- is set to close tonight (Friday), with all indications pointing to a massive oversubscription.

US ENERGY group Enron will launch its euro debut early next week, a Eu400m minimum deal via Lehman Brothers and Paribas. The transaction highlights the growing importance of the euro market for borrowers outside Europe. With swaps from euros into dollars costly since the beginning of the year, several other US borrowers, such as Ford, have seen their deals suffer from tight pricing while others, such as TVA, have found it difficult to launch planned issues.

BAT AND Philip Morris successfully negotiated the increasingly hazardous corporate market this week, building on the foundations of previous issues and extensive premarketing to launch Eu1bn transactions. Difficult deals for borrowers such as Telefónica and Fiat last week had suggested that heavy corporate supply was beginning to depress the market.

BANQUE Nationale de Paris and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich have won the mandate to arrange a Eu60m term loan for SKB Banka, Slovenia's leading private bank. They have fully underwritten the deal. The facility has a maturity of five years, and starts to amortise after two years. The margin for the first three years is 47.5bp over Euribor, going up to 50bp for years four and five. The loan will be used for general corporate purposes. Before syndication DG Bank joined the mandated arrangers as an arranger, and BNP and RZB are approaching possible co-arrangers. When the borrower's audited 1998 figures are made public in mid-April, the deal will be launched into general syndication. Some bankers think the deal will be popular and could be oversubscribed. But the borrower may choose to keep the volume low for this transaction, and to take advantage of a likely fall in prices with another deal later this year. However, others say the deal is a little too tight considering the size of the transaction, and because the small size of the bank limits the amount of ancillary business on offer. Observers suggest that the war in the Balkans could create difficulties for the launch of the deal. One banker pointed to the spike in spreads on bonds from the region over the last two days, as evidence of investors' uncertainty. The borrower is the biggest private bank in Slovenia in terms of capital and total assets, and the second largest in terms of capital. It has eight subsidiaries active in leasing, factoring, real estate, custody services and investment funds. *