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THE NEW shape of the international primary bond markets was confirmed this week as the two main currency blocs, the dollar and the euro, dominated new issue activity. Only a handful of sterling transactions distracted attention away from the now two core currencies. Although the deal flow of the first week of the year could not be maintained, as the market slowed on the back of concerns about Brazil's fiscal predicament, frequent issuers remained keen to get deals into the market as early in the New Year as possible.

* Abbey National Treasury Services Guarantor: Abbey National

MORGAN Stanley Dean Witter and MeesPierson this week completed the accelerated offer of stock in Fortis, the Dutch banking group. The deal raised over $1bn, making it one of the largest transactions to be executed using this swift marketing style. The bank had planned to raise $2bn through a capital increase last September but was eventually unwilling to accept the poor valuation given to its shares after the worldwide stock rout.

GOLDMAN Sachs and JP Morgan have completed the sale of stock in Pharmacia & Upjohn (P&U), the three year old pharmaceuticals group formed through the merger of the US and Swedish groups. The deal was executed on an extremely fast time-table, illustrating the benefits of using this type of marketing during turbulent market conditions. Although the offering was launched in last week's booming stockmarkets, the situation changed abruptly this week with the exposure of Brazil's economic, political and currency problems. But the outstanding stock in P&U was relatively insulated from the turmoil, allowing the lead managers to price the placement close to the $55-1/16 closing price in New York last night (Thursday).

* Abbey National Treasury Services plc Guarantor: Abbey National plc

DO WE SMELL blood at swishy Thames Court on Upper Thames Street, the new ivory towered home of Rabobank in London? Passing Japanese tourists report the sight of many body bags. Has there been a breakout of the plague or have Rabobank's puritanical task masters in Utrecht merely come to their senses? To be honest, we never believed that rich little country bumpkin Rabobank ever wanted to become a full blown international investment bank.

India The senior phase of syndication for the $159m 10 year shipping facility for Enron Corporation is going well with the process set to be wrapped up in the next week or so. Four or five banks are expected to join the deal arranged by ANZ Investment Bank.

* Merrill Lynch gave European investors a welcome taste of US asset backed product this week, with a $411.98m auto loan deal for Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America, and underlined the inward march of ABS spreads. Mitsubishi Auto Owners Trust 1999-1 offered four sequentially amortising tranches of fixed rate bonds with top ratings from Moody's and Standard & Poor's. With average lives of 0.33, 0.99, 1.68 and 2.56 years, the classes were priced at 4bp over four month Libor, 38bp over 12 month Libor, and 85bp and 93bp over Treasuries.

SECURITISATION looks set to take off in central and Eastern Europe in 1999, as a swelling group of potential issuers examine the technique. Ceskomoravská Hypotecní Banka is to launch a Ckr3.6bn ($117.4m) five year mortgage backed bond on February 8. The bank's parent IPB will lead the deal with an underwriting syndicate -- the coupon will be 8.9%.

STANDARD & Poor's has hired Ian Bell, one of the securitisation partners at Clifford Chance in London, to act as its senior counsel for Europe. Bell will join S&P on March 1, and report to Jo-Anne Rose, global general counsel in New York. "I had been doing the same kind of work for 11 years at Clifford Chance, and was looking for a chance to change when S&P called me in the summer," said Bell. "It is a fabulous job -- too good to miss. I will be at one of the centres of the European structured finance market, helping to shape its development."