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* Bradford & Bingley Building Society Rating: A1

* Crédit Local de France Rating: Aa1/AA+

* Merrill Lynch is to launch the sale of stock in Gilat Satellite Networks, the Israeli manufacturer of satellite telecommunication network hook-up systems. The group already has a full listing in the US market on Nasdaq after going public in 1993 in a deal that was led by Oppenheimer. Since then it has established a secure core of established shareholders that was further enhanced through its secondary stock offering in 1995 led by Goldman Sachs. The forthcoming deal could raise up to $275m and will involve the sale of stock to international and local investors.

GLOBAL co-ordinators ABN Amro Rothschild and Nomura have launched the sale of stock for Estonia Telecom. The deal is the first of the year's large flotations from central Europe and is an important test of investor appetite for this kind of stock from the region. Last year redemptions in emerging market funds reached a peak as investors ran for cover during the turmoil of the third quarter. But bankers in the local markets, London and New York say that buyers are starting to return and that the main beneficiaries of the recovery in investor confidence will be new issues.

* Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA Rating: A1/A-

Euro Straights --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DEUTSCHE Bank and Goldman Sachs are now set to join JP Morgan and Warburg Dillon Read as lead managers on the Republic of the Philippines' $500m equivalent euro transaction, heightening doubts over the deal's eventual fate.

DEUTSCHE Bank and Goldman Sachs are now set to join JP Morgan and Warburg Dillon Read as lead managers on the Republic of the Philippines' $500m equivalent euro transaction, heightening doubts over the deal's eventual fate. Although the seven to 10 year transaction was always likely to prove a tough sell among an investor base unfamiliar with the BB+/Ba1 rated credit, bankers argued that the inclusion of four lead managers is a recipe for confusion and disaster.

ACTIVITY in the floating rate note market surged this week as financial issuers sought to tap a level of liquidity among banks and money market funds which one banker described as "quite staggering". The change in sentiment in the FRN markets -- apparent across the main currency sectors, in dollars, euros and sterling -- is more surprising still given the lack of primary market activity for much of 1998, especially after the Russian financial crisis brought about a state of near paralysis in floating rate product.

GOLDMAN SACHS and JP Morgan have been mandated to act as global co-ordinators for the sale of stock in Debitel, the largest mobile telecoms provider in Germany. The group is 46% owned by German retail giant Metro, 52% by DaimlerChrysler subsidiary Debis and 2% by Electronic Partners. Metro and Debis should raise between $500m and $1bn.

GOLDMAN Sachs is to launch the sale of stock in United Pan Communications (UPC), Europe's biggest provider of private cable television services. The flotation will raise around $650m, ranking as one of the largest of this year's deals to be hosted by the Amsterdam stock exchange. The market is expecting a wide range of small to mid-cap deals from a variety of sectors, with UK investors particularly keen on rebalancing portfolios in favour of some of the sectors on offer.

* Bremer Landesbank Capital Markets plc Guarantor: Bremer Landesbank Kreditanstalt Oldenburg Girozentrale