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BANK Przemyslowo-Handlowy SA (BPH), the Krakow-based private bank, has mandated HypoVereinsbank to arrange a Eu75m three year term loan. The facility carries a margin of 35bp over Euribor. The mandate marks BPH's second foray into the market -- its first being in September 1997 when it raised a $75m revolving credit through arranger Sumitomo.

WHO IS MIKE O'Neill? You may well ask. Before you could say, 'is Barclays Bank behaving like Bonkersbank?' Sir Peter Middleton and Andrew 'Pandy' Buxton had appointed Mike O'Neill, an unknown West Coast surfer and beach boy, to be chief executive of Barclays. Are the Barclays board members two onions short of the perfect bhaji? Did Any 'Pandy' Buxton lift his hand by mistake at the East Anglian woolly sheep auctions and walk away with a special prize?

THE INTER-American Development Bank launched a $1bn two year bond on Thursday, the latest in what it intends to be a $9bn spending spree in the international markets this year and the second global bond in a fortnight. The deal, led by Goldman Sachs and Warburg Dillon Read, was priced at 99.964 to give a spread of 35bp over the 4.5% January 2001 Treasury. It is the IDB's second ever global bond, and follows on from its $1bn five year deal, led by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs in January.

* General Electric Capital Corp Rating: Aaa/AAA

Market commentary: Compiled by Glenn Blackley, RBC DS Global Markets, London. Tel: +44 171-865 1759

PART ONE OF the long awaited financing for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link finally reached the market this week -- and lead managers HSBC and Warburg Dillon Read achieved a much better price for the £1.65bn of UK government guaranteed bonds than expected.

SEVERAL property companies around the world have established MTN programmes. Sun Hung Kai Properties signed a $500bn Euro-MTN programme on February 5, the first for a Hong Kong listed company. The bonds will be targeted at international investors, but the programme allows for issuance in the domestic market.

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GLOBAL co-ordinator Robert Fleming is to launch the sale of stock in South African Breweries (SAB), the world's fourth largest brewer, next month. The UK firm was mandated to lead the prestigious offering last year in the face of fierce competition from US firms. The deal will raise around £200m through the sale of secondary shares listed in London and is likely to give SAB a market capitalisation of $3.6bn-$4bn. The transaction will assist SAB's expansion plans as, although the brewer will not raise funds through the deal, the London listing and increased investor awareness will improve its access to the international equity capital markets.

THE STRENGTH of demand for corporate paper was illustrated yet again this week with the launch of a highly successful Eu1.1bn five year transaction for Repsol, the largest oil company in Spain. Lead managed by BBV, Goldman Sachs and Invercaixa, the deal more than doubled in size between conception and execution.

Sweden ABN Amro (joint books and documentation agent) and Handelsbanken Markets (joint books and facility agent) have won the mandate to arrange a Eu225m five year multicurrency revolving credit facility for Swedish Match.

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