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Chase Manhattan has won the mandate to arrange a senior debt facility backing Wassal's proposed acquisition of Thorn Lighting Group. The £351m bid counters a £321m bid for Cooper Industries of the US. Syndication will be aimed at Wassal's relationship banks.

VODAFONE Plc, the UK mobile telecoms group, is back in the international syndicated loan market with a £300m facility, arranged by Barclays, HSBC and National Australia Bank. The 3-1/2 year facility carries a margin of 25bp over Libor - the same level it paid in March when it mandated Barclays and Union Bank of Switzerland to arrange a Dfl 1.2bn five year revolving credit.

Investor presentations began in Singapore yesterday (Thursday) for what may prove to be the only public debt transaction out of Asia during the second half of the year - a $300m World Bank guaranteed deal for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). With ABN Amro as lead manager, separate ratings for the issue and borrower should be released today (Friday), the former potentially piercing the Kingdom of Thailand's BBB-/Ba1 rating by several notches. Fixed income analysts said that the prospective 10 year deal has been given a boost by the news that the World Bank has strengthened the structure with the provision of a rolling coupon guarantee.

Hopes that some stability may return to the international bond markets built up early in the week but were snatched away again yesterday (Thursday) by yet another sharp fall on the world's equity markets. This time, the reasons for the short lived nature of the confidence were two-fold: first, concerns reappeared about Brazil's ability to withstand a potential withdrawal of international capital; second, Fed chairman Greenspan and the UK monetary policy committee dampened hopes that imminent rate cuts would be introduced to help ease the global financial and economic crisis.

France The syndicated loan market was buzzing last night with reports that Carrefour has mandated three banks - Paribas, Citibank and Banque National de Paris - to arrange a Ffr19bn jumbo facility to finance the purchase of the remaining shares in Comptoirs Modernes.

* Nomura Global Funding plc Guarantor: Nomura Securities Co Ltd

Global financial markets took their cue this week from the increasing uncertainty in Brazil, as fears that Latin America’s bellwether economy would be the next to succumb to the flight of international capital from the emerging markets brought yet another sudden correction.

Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Banque Paribas this week successfully floated shares in Brokat Infosystems, defying recent market volatility with an offer that was many times oversubscribed. "The deal shows all the signs of the old days when the second tier markets throughout Europe were roaring ahead," said one salesperson on the Continent.