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Croatia will today (Friday) complete a series of pan-European investor presentations in support of a euro transaction which will provide an important test of sentiment towards the Baa3/BBB- rated republic and mark the start of a packed calendar of issuance by central and eastern European credits over the coming weeks. Poised to follow Croatia's issue are sovereign offerings from Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, alongside municipal bonds from the Czech Republic's Prague and Estonia's Tallinn as well as a bank issue from Eesti Ühispank.

Bronwyn Curtis, the chief economist at Nomura, has left the bank as a result of its previously announced shift in focus. Curtis, one of the City's most quoted economic commentators, is understood to have been unwilling to the take on the role Nomura had earmarked for her, in particular the punishing travelling schedule involved.

* Deutsche Siedlungs- und Landesrentenbank Rating: Aaa/AAA (Moody's/Fitch IBCA)

ARbitrage opportunities are still restricted in the two major currencies, and swap and new issue markets were slow in the first half of the week. However, by Wednesday and Thursday, swap-driven deals emerged in euros and dollars, eliciting offer-side interest in most maturities.

CSFB and Mediobanca are to launch the sale of stock in Ducati Motor Holdings Spa, the manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The company is privately owned by Texas Pacific Group, the US management buyout group that bought Ducati in 1996 in a leveraged transaction alongside the then Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. The buyout resulted in the owners acquiring 51% of the group's equity capital. Two years later they bought the remaining 49%.

Poland Bank Handlowy w Warszawie has awarded an official mandate to Barclays, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Deutsche, Dresdner and WestLB to arrange a Eu175m facility.

Argentina * Republic of Argentina

* European Bank for Reconstruction & Development Rating: Aaa/AAA

* Banca Popolare di Brescia

A group of 16 regional European banks have formed an association to boost their role in the new euro sector by offering borrowers diversified placement power in Europe. The "Euroclub" is a loose association in which the banks will cooperate on areas outlined in a code of conduct: premarketing, distribution, market-making, and information exchange, especially in the field of credit analysis. The move comes in response to the enhanced competition that has followed the arrival of the euro. Faced by the experience, larger balance sheets and league table positions of the major Euromarket players, smaller regional banks are pushing the role they can play in distribution to end investors.

THE RETAIL market got its first chance this year to buy into a Middle Eastern project finance asset this week when co-ordinating arrangers Apicorp, Credit Suisse First Boston and Paribas launched general syndication on Tuesday of the $475m Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC) project financing. For international banks three ticket levels are on offer. Senior lead managers committing $20m receive participation fees of 80bp, lead managers receive 70bp for takes of $15m and managers with $10m receive 60bp. A sell-down was also targeted at regional banks, led by Apicorp, for slightly smaller ticket sizes.

Norway Den norske has launched syndication of the Nkr1.95bn seven year debt package for Joh Johannson. The loan consists of a Nkr1.5bn term loan and a Nkr450m revolver.