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Austria Arrangers Creditanstalt, HSBC and UBS are planning to launch syndication of the Asch7.5bn non-recourse project financing for the Connect Austria telecoms build-out by early June. The deal has a nine year tenor and a relatively conservative debt to equity ratio at about 60:40.

* Jumbo Asset Finance Ltd Amount: ¥11.9bn

DOLPHIN Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telesystem International Wireless Inc, successfully tapped the European high yield market this week despite difficult market conditions, brought about largely by the recent heavy supply in the US domestic market and specifically in the telecoms sector. The deal comprised a $263m tranche and a Eu238m tranche making it only the second high yield transaction ever launched in the new European currency.

Croatia Société Générale and Union Bank of Switzerland have won the mandate to arrange a $70m dual tranche three year term loan for Pliva dd. The loan consists of a $50m tranche which will be used for refinancing and general corporate purposes and a $20m term loan which will be used to part finance Pliva's employee share ownership plan. The facility carries a margin of 80bp over Libor.

THE SPANISH authorities will shortly launch their third privatisation sale of the year with the largest ever equity sale from the country -- the Pta1,164bn ($7.7bn) sale of stock in its national electricity giant, Endesa. The Spanish government has been the quickest off the mark this year in launching deals, taking advantage of continental European markets trading at all time highs. The ministry of finance in Madrid has already signed off on the final sale of stock in both the financial services group, Argentaria, and the national tobacco group, Tabacalera, which was completed earlier this month.

* Bancaja International Finance Guarantor: Caja de Ahorros de Valencia Castellón y Alicante (Bancaja)

SITA Telecommunications Holdings, the world's largest operator of data communications networks, has confirmed its intention to seek a stockmarket flotation before the summer. The Netherlands-based company, to be known as Equant, is planning a dual listing in New York and Amsterdam in a deal that will value the firm at around $3bn.

Leveraged buy-outs (LBOs) have become one of the hottest areas of European investment banking, fuelled by the availability of increasingly varied and cost effective forms of financing. Banks have been rushing to put acquisition finance teams in place, attracted by the high returns on offer. Institutional investors, particularly from the US, are creating a new capital pool for senior debt financing. High yield bonds are starting to take off in Europe. Mezzanine is still plentiful. And the supply of private equity and venture capital is at an all-time high. Some financiers already fear that the LBO market may be overheating. At a time when asset prices are so high, and the competition for deals so intense, they believe that the market risks a repetition of its collapse in the early 1990s unless the currently hectic pace of activity slows down. But others say things are different this time -- that the economic outlook in Europe is much better than in the late 1980s; that lenders and investors are much more selective about the deals they will do, and how they structure them; that the development of new and more sophisticated forms of financing has fundamentally changed the dynamics of the LBO market; and that the long term prospects are bright. It is too early to tell who is right. But, one way or another, it is going to be an exciting ride in the leveraged finance market. Charles Olivier reports.

INTERNATIONAL investors are pouring into economically sensitive sectors such as construction, steel and raw materials, spurred by a succession of positive economic results throughout the EU. In the next few months several companies from these sectors will come to the market, either looking to raise capital or as vendors seeking to divest out of their holdings at the currently favourable prices.

GOLDMAN Sachs has closed the sub-underwriting phase on one of the most successful syndications this year in the Euroloan market. Banks committed $5.75bn to the $2.6bn credit facility backing Bacardi's purchase of Dewar's Scotch Whisky and Bombay Gin from Diageo. The blow-out transaction showed the depth of demand for the right name in the syndicated loan market, triumphing despite early criticism that the pricing, which ranges between 25bp and 45bp over Libor, was too tight for an acquisition related facility arranged for a Bermuda based company. The deal was also launched at a time when a number of UK acquisition related deals were struggling in syndication due to poorly perceived deal structures seen as over-leveraged, or in sectors that were vulnerable to economic downturn.

* Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA Amount: Dra10bn