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THE FRENCH government is set to launch the sale of Air France in the next two weeks. The Trésor is expected to sell some 50% of the group through lead managers SG and Banque Indosuez Agricole in a deal that could be worth over Ffr5bn (Eu765m). The lead managers have this week been sending out invitations to international and domestic investment banks to pitch for co-lead and co-manager positions, with syndicate desks in London and Paris reporting that they are entering a remarkably busy period as lead managers select syndicates in advance of the rush to execute new business.

* CIBC World Markets has hired Jonathan Rowland as an executive director in acquisition finance, reporting to Christopher Rist, managing director and head of European acquisition finance and LBO sponsor coverage in London. Rowland was formerly at Barclays Capital, where he was a director in leveraged finance and head of its US financial buyer group. He takes up his position on June 1.

BARCLAYS, Den Danske and Deutsche Bank launched syndication of the debt package backing Emap's acquisition of Peterson Companies on Wednesday. Co-arrangers are offered 50bp for $75m tickets, lead managers 30bp for $50m and managers 20bp for $25m.

UBS, acting through Warburg Dillon Read, has been mandated by Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola (Sonangol) to arrange a fully underwritten $500m oil contract pre-export financing. The deal is one of Africa's most valuable trade finance transactions. Indeed, with the Ghanaian Cocoa Board's annual pre-export deal, it is one of the few sub-Saharan loans that lenders want to be seen in.

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General Electric Capital Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

THE US corporate bond market began 1999 where it left off in 1998, with a positive tone in credit markets and strong demand from investors enabling a wide variety of issuers to raise debt. Helped by the positive reception to global dollar offerings from Fannie Mae ($4bn), Ford ($2.3bn, upped from $1.5bn) and GMAC ($2bn), the pace of activity in the new issue market started to quicken as the week drew on.

VIVENDI has mandated SG to arrange a Eu500m five year revolving credit. SG has launched the deal to a limited group of co-arrangers which have been asked to commit Eu60m for an underwriting fee of 7bp. The loan carries a margin of 25bp over Libor for the first two years and 27.5bp for years three to five. A commitment fee of 2.5bp is also payable on the two tranches

GOLDMAN SACHS and JP Morgan have been mandated to run the books on the Swedish government's divestment of its 7% stake in Pharmacia & Upjohn, the pharmaceuticals group formed through the merger of local and US groups in 1995. The deal was launched this week to raise as much as $2bn and will be one of the largest of the year's stock offerings from the Swedish market. The transaction shows a canny sense of timing by the government in cashing in on the popularity of the pharmaceutical sector. This has largely been sparked by the increase in shareholder value expected to materialise through the current wave of mergers -- such as that between Zeneca and Astra -- sweeping the industry.

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